UAE backs out from F-35 deal worth billions of dollars with the US

Washington: – United Arab Emirates (UAE) delivered a severe jolt to the United States on Tuesday. UAE announced that it was backing out from the deal with the United States, worth $23 billion to purchase super-advanced F-35 stealth bombers. The UAE embassy clarified that the UAE was withdrawing due to a technical reason. Only a few days ago, UAE signed a deal to supply Rafale fighter jets with France. Therefore, military analysts are pointing out that this could be the reason behind the UAE decision to withdraw from the F-35 deal.

The United States had announced the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the UAE during the tenure of former President Donald Trump. After signing the Abraham agreement with Israel, the United States would supply 50 F-35 jets to UAE. Joe Biden, who was running for President and other Democrat senators, opposed this deal with UAE. It is claimed that Joe Biden was not very positive regarding this military cooperation with UAE, even after taking over as the President of the United States.

In this scenario, the UAE embassy in the United States announced withdrawal from the F-35 deal while speaking to an international news agency. UAE has avoided the purchase of F-35s considering the technical glitches, restrictions on sovereign decisions and practicable reasons. The UAE embassy also clarified that this proposal is open for consideration in the future.

The embassy also clarified that this withdrawal would not affect the other defence cooperation between the United States and UAE. The embassy said that further defence cooperation discussions would be held with US officials at the end of this week. But as per the US media and analysts, the Rafale deal between UAE and France signed a few weeks ago has become the cause for UAE withdrawal from the US cooperation.