Public opinion is largely negative and skeptical regarding the F-35 deal with Saudi Arabia. Key concerns include the implications for regional stability, ethical and humanitarian issues stemming from past events like the Khashoggi incident and the 9/11 attacks, and doubts about US intentions and the overall security risks associated with transferring advanced technology to a nation perceived as a threat. Many commenters express frustration over prioritizing military sales over pressing humanitarian issues.

United States Government

Saudi Arabia

Congress

My biggest concern is in the electronics, potentially falling into adversarial hands. With how interconnected the F-35 is to function, it would be a tarmac ornament if an adversary knew how to counter the electronics via hacking or other methods. 

I'm generally against sharing military hardware with any non-NATO members, especially our most cutting edge tools.

titsmuhgeee

It's a dumb move.  They would sell the tech to China overnight.

Roncinante

The Iron Law of AskReddit:


With any question that begins, "Conservatives of Reddit...", 95 percent of the answers will begin, "I'm not a conservative, but ..."

Alaska_Jack

you won't get answers from conservatives here

Party-Ad4482

For context: Trump said he would sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite Pentagon officials’ concerns that China could steal the technology. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is set to visit the White House today.

Source: https://nl.nytimes.com/f/newsletter/88Yb2LlCofsyYH71WA2Lvg~~/AAAAARA~/FhtbNZaqbl5suDGs5Ar_2XTqFalgZ7eFO4io2F0m9PxrZaNf4f30VIhHJevqFX7IExaEk2CbLLSdHyz2K_-RF5rOTBbueZ02_Qft_CRQjUycq02eAuMynfOnFoMavoEjlN4f4mITsLxIXtJkD9LQSo9FIvjl-LXfDRVMiS_HkCkmeyimyvo072Y52HIpOX60ubGzOUR_c_ByEdDcJ63EbcPVNO4Grv6z8zY28fvjizW8TvViEVXVZFrCeTlvJ1UKFWtZPQFBbChqynGqhyOxksgseqaY0TClRhioj7g7pLXBFAfrEkVJ-yJqeykb6T2asOgyTEDJCGsYw_1r3nfue6KZ-Yt3kfbtZKp5JXU0m99lxMUAUaFAKB1sUhHjIGyN

HopDropNRoll

Great idea. Like when we armed Bin Laden in Afghanistan. 🙄

jordan1978

They love it now. They even forgive them for doing 911 now. Not this, his rapes, pedophelia not treason will end this. These people are anti American through and through.

T-BoneTech1985

A poor spectator from Europe here, so I've got no horse in this race.

That being said, it seems to me that everything bad that Trump has done/is doing doesn't bother conservatives so long as it annoys democrats.

Fracture90000

I used to be a conservative until shit went off the rails.  I’m still a conservative to most people to the left of center, especially when it comes to national defense and foreign policy.  I’m a lonely man in the political sense.

That being said:

The F35 is not the F22, and it is not a US solo project.  There are lots of partner countries.  The F35 is basically the new F16 and designed so that it could be exported eventually.  To use a comparison the Saudis would understand, if the F22 is the equivalent to the Ferrari F1 car, the F35 would be a Ferrari road car.  It has some of the same technology, but for the “masses.”

Saudi Arabia is a despotic monarchy; however, them having export modified f35s does not make them a threat to the US, even if a lost plane ended up in the wrong hands.  Plus, if we didn’t sell them planes, someone else would and then we would have less leverage diplomatically.

[deleted]

If the Saudi's want F-35's. They have to keep selling all their oil in USD for the global market.

Any-Investment5692

Karma farm post. You MIGHT get 1 real answer. The rest will be coming from emotionally charged people that identify as being on the left.

LazyCoffee

We have been selling weapon systems to Saudi Arabia for 80 years. Why is this news?

VeritasLuxMea

Didn't Biden approve F-35's to UAE? As an anti-Trumpist conservative, I'm not sure why I should care about Saudi Arabia getting them. We sold them other air superiority planes in the past, like F-15's under both Republican and Democrat administrations.


I'm much more concerned about our allies who have realized that buying F-35's from a faithless partner is not a good idea.

Leverkaas2516

Just like the computers made the year they were built. They are outdated and don't threaten America directly. 

🤷‍♂️ whatever

Edit: lean more to the right but definitely not full conservative

ohnomynono

“B-B-But Trump’s a genius!” they say.  M-O-R-O-N-S

IvanDrake

F-35 planes are export models.  They're available to all well qualified buyers.

It's F-22 planes that are kept close.

ChiefStrongbones

The F-35s are in the open. What kind of low tech military hardware and technology is he allowing to be sold? Surveillance systems? Facial recognition software? Social media monitoring?

RedditReader4031

These threads always devolve into a leftist circle jerk it's too bad. I'm not a conservative but I am genuinely curious what they think about it and not left wing fan fiction haha.

baraboosh

A friendly reminder that there’s a wide spectrum of conservatives (just like progressives), and you won’t hear anything from trump-loving conservatives, which is what you are targeting.

OvulatingScrotum

Probably not the best move, but whenever the US sells planes to allies, most of the "real" tech is stripped out.  On a mission to sell F-15s to UAE, the planes were basically shells with the basics.  All the real tech that made it a cutting edge weapon of war was stripped out before they were sent.

Supermac34

Correction, Lockheed is selling F35s to SA.

Icthyphile

You do know we regularly sell jets with degraded capabilities to foreign countries right? Not to mention, the F35 was designed to be exported and built in such a way that makes it all but impossible to reverse engineer. Either way, it’s not like we’re selling F-22s

Quadz1527

Not a conservative 

Not a fan of the sale but it will be a stripped down model.

coastal_ghost08

Selling fat Amy isn't the biggest deal, the nerd... Yeah... Okay fine. 

If he starts selling The Kid, he needs to be removed from office before he kills us all.

10ToSfromaSRBalloon

It wouldn’t matter unless they have pilots. Also with the way they boast and show. It’ll be a mantel piece or someone’s crashing it.

Kindly-Talk-1912

The US has sold arms to Saudi Arabia for decades. The Kingdom is largely viewed as aligned with the US on gulf policy relative to nations like Iran. If anything, Israel pays attention in order to maintain the military edge in the region. Unsure why this dynamic is being attributed to Trump when it seems clearly a continuation of a longstanding strategy.

Taxing

doublegg83

This sales need to be approved by Congress and there is enough dissent from Republicans that they may actually  block the sale.

Lopsided-Ticket3813

Trump is not only in bed with people we shouldn’t be he’s turned the USA into a fuck stock. I won’t forgive people for voting this man back in.

Dantheunicornman

He’s selling out our country and putting us in danger.

NewFraige

As a libertarian, I’m against it. I don’t want the US government playing arms dealer for foreign governments, I don’t want more entanglements in the Middle East, and I don’t want my tax dollars underwriting a defense industry that keeps dragging us into blowback cycles. If conservatives want small government, this should be the easiest place to apply it.

g_bleezy

dont blame them. the boeing 767s were too slow (too soon?) /s

Ska82

Asking Reddit about military stuff is futile. It’s all propaganda.

Shotgun_Sentinel

I don't care much about that, i care about the lack of ethics regarding the Khashoggi case.  
Trump is pretty much ok'ing that with this meeting. This is again another stab in the back of what the US is supposed to stand for and a stab in the back of every other decent country/person.

fastbikkel

Not a fan, it just looks like putting profit over ethics and long‑term safety.

KissAndCursed

Fuck that fucking piece of shit traitor rapist.

cadezego5

We do whatever Orange Daddy tells us what to do. Orange Daddy is never wrong.

If it ever seems like Orange Daddy is wrong, it is either due to liberals or Democrat hoaxes.

Tiny_Brilliant7347

Conservatives are almost the same as jihadists. So they probably love it. Maye they should sell them some rocks too for when their women get out of line...

Supremacy13

They are too busy bending over and spreading their cheeks to answer.

DrRealName

I'm sure he begged them to 9/11 Chicago and Portland...

ColeBane

They are playing the USA like trash fiddle.

ZeroKarma6250

18 of the 19 terrorists of 9/11 were Saudis.  Not to mention the whole dismembering a journalist based in America.  But Kush and trump making billions off the Prince is all that's important, right?

shep2105

This isnt a Trump thing.  This is a liberal TDS thing.  Multiple presidents have sold jets and other military technology to other countries, including both Democratic and Republican administrations. For example, the Reagan administration sold advanced jets to Saudi Arabia, and the Obama administration approved major arms deals, including advanced F-15s for Saudi Arabia and a total arms export tally that surpassed Bush's. More recently, the Trump and Biden administrations have continued arms sales to countries like the UAE. 

* **Reagan Administration:** Sold advanced jets to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.
* **Obama Administration:** Finalized a massive $30 billion deal to sell 84 advanced F-15SA fighters to Saudi Arabia, plus upgrades to existing jets and new helicopters, as a countermeasure against Iran. The administration's total arms export sales were more than double the Bush administration's.
* **Trump Administration:** Approved deals to sell weapons to countries like the United Arab Emirates, including up to 50 F-35 aircraft. The administration was also involved in pushing for and finalizing a Kuwaiti deal for F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighters.
* **Clinton Administration:** Approved a technology transfer to China, which required the president to certify that such exports were in the national interest. 

Otherwise-Ground5066

Why don’t we cut out the middle man and just start bombing ourselves?

EvilTodd1970

I hate Trump but I’m a bit confused why this is a big deal. Don’t we sell the saudis F-15s under other administrations? Isn’t this just the next generation of that?

IGotScammed5545

They won't have all the goodies or improvements. Model A next to a GT.

jeffeviejo

I mean, we've already been working with them on the secret military tech side. Had a buddy that lived in SA for 2 yrs, working on Apaches for them, I believe for Boeing after he got out of the US Army. Ended up becoming an engineer for Boeing, and went back over there for another year or so.

He now works in the states for the same company, kind of as a liaison for the Army, any time they wanna make a change, hes the guy that has to draw it up or sign off on it

As far as the F35 goes.. We've been selling them to allies. Its a dumbed down version, and IIRC we have some control over them as far a maintenance, parts, and software goes. So if they wanna fuck around, their planes isnt gonna do them much good for long

Captain_Nipples

The country that sent us the 9/11 attackers gets F35s? Won’t need to high jack airliners next time.

echo5milk

Can we just do an AskReddit for all common sense policy?

r/Conservative - Do trans rights matter?
r/Conservative - Should women have the right to vote?
r/Conservative - Should blacks have the right to vote?
r/Conservative - Do you agree with gay rights?
r/Conservative - Do you agree with the socialist $2k checks trump is potentially going to send?
r/Conservative - Do you agree with the women's right to choose during pregnancy?

I've got so many I want to know!

CreativeFraud

ThinLikeABeerCan

In their minds, probably the greatest military deal in the history of deals, that I can tell you

B_R_U_H

Trump would sell the US Constitution if the price was right.

beavis617

Hey, these journalists aren’t going to kill themselves. 🤷‍♂️

mrweatherbeef

Like everything else this year, concerned but not surprised.

cardgrl21

Those dumb fucking cunts aren't capable of thinking for themselves. They'll just repeat whatever propaganda is shoved down their throats and then go back to blaming liberals for all their problems.

Thor_2099

Trump sold Javelins to them years ago. I made a lot of noise about that and no one ever knew what i was going on about.


You dont need hijacked planes to take down a sky scraper if you have a few javelins.

ElmoDoes3D

We’ve already sold them to about a dozen allied nations and a lot of them are already flying. So it’s not ground breaking news that we are selling to another country in my opinion. Maybe just cause Trump said it??

birwin353

Remember his son-in-law small trust-fund  got a $2B investment from the Saudíes, amount they had never managed before even combined?

Yes, exactly

CamiloArturo

Ok please don’t listen to anyone blaming any modern day politician or administration. The reason actually dates back to 1973, when the U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement establishing the “petrodollar”. This essentially meant that anyone in the world who wanted to buy Saudi oil had to pay in U.S. dollars. No other currency would be accepted by the Saudis.

There are various reasons both sides benefited from it and wanted to sign it. But in a nutshell, it had massive influence in increasing and solidifying the value of the dollar, and furthering our position as the economic superpower of the world. There were other countries that had better exchange rates than the dollar. The British pound was worth twice as much as the dollar during the economic boom of the 90’s. But the U.S. had an economy and population that was not only bigger, but was growing faster than any economy in history, and was willing to make guarantees to the Saudis on our end. These ranged from agreeing to import only from them, to agreeing to selling military equipment at a significantly discounted rate, so the Saudis wouldn’t have to build a huge military industrial complex.

There’s never been a time of pure peace in the Middle East. But at that time, there wasn’t nearly as much tension as there is now. Because of our agreement to only import from them (which did loosen over time), and how quickly our economy and infrastructure was growing, we became totally dependent on them. If they pulled the plug, we would have been screwed. So we turned a blind eye to them. We ignored the fact that they still use slave labor for building their infrastructure, the horrifying human rights violations committed on a daily basis, and yes, the fact that it’s a known fact by now that they have funneled our tax dollars to organizations that want to carry out acts of terror on the western world.

Mid-2024, the official agreement for the petrodollar expired. But now it’s more of an implicit agreement. I think our government knows how outraged people would be if they signed another contract with them after everything we know. And if the Saudis stopped forcing the use of the dollar, yes it would have economic ramifications for us, but they know we would retaliate by not providing them with weapons and such, and our foreign military policy would shift from a “look the other way” policy, to one more hostile.

I do believe they will start accepting other currencies moving forward. But it would be a huge change in operations, and couldn’t just happen overnight. And most countries still get favorable rates for oil by paying with dollars. So even if they officially stopped, the economic impact would be a very slow one.

SimpleAccurate631

While I don't disagree with the premise that Saudi is an issue and this sale may not be the best idea. I always hate the 15/19 argument.

  
Most Mafia leaders have been of Italian descent in america should we not do business with Italy?  19/19 of those very attackers were Muslim should we ban Islam?

Let's say the KKK carried out an attack on Canada.  Should they not be friends with the US because all of the attackers came from the US?

  
Now if you continued on and talked about links to Saudi, what did they do to help, do they instigate extremism, etc... etc... You'd have a stronger argument, but just saying 15/19 is such a lazy bad argument because you could easily say that 15 out of approx 20 million saudi citizens committed a crime against the US, doesn't sound as bad now right?

MaineHippo83

The F-22 is the most sophisticated US warplane, and none of those are being exported to any country. That said, the F-35 is also a very sophisticated plane.

But the US selling some of its best planes to Saudi Arabia is nothing new. There are lots of geopolitical reasons why we've been allied with them for decades, and exporting expensive jets is a big moneymaker for the plane manufacturers. We gladly sent them F-15s back when those were our most sophisticated fighters, and the Saudis wound up having the largest fleet of F-15s of any country other than the US. The British also sent them a large number of Panavia Tornados back when those were among the best fighter jets in the world.

Now, the F-15s and Tornados are aging, and the Saudis are in the process of acquiring new F-35s from the US and Eurofighter Typhoons from the British.

Cognac_and_swishers

Because the U.S. government trusts homophobic misogynistic theocratic monarchies with weapons of war more than it trusts US citizens.

ericbythebay

Open-Difference5534

Should we damn the prospects of an alliance that brings stability to the region just because of the nationality of the 9/11 hijackers? Wait till you hear about Japan and Germany.

Less war is good. The only conflicts Saudi Arabia has been involved post Yom Kippur are as part of international coalitions. Giving them F35s (as long as we can keep the technology out of the hands of the Russians and Chinese) is a show of respect to the stabilization they’ve provided to the region.

I hear so much about how bad SA, but that’s missing the forest for the trees.

Positive_Outcome_903

The Saudis are a blunt against Iran, Yemen radicals.

Reasonable-Rain-7474

They're not outfitted with our technology. 

Like buying a basic Honda accord, no perks at all.

unbroken50

Trump is personally getting a lot of money from the Saudis, so he is doing whatever they want him to do.

BrokenHero287

Many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, but to my knowledge no one has ever shown a link to the Saudi government. Osama bin Laden was very much on the outs with the Saudis.

Downtown_Divide_8003

Well there’s 2 reasons. 

1. Money. 

2. Making a foreign country reliant on your military technology gives you influence over them. For example the USA could threaten to stop supplying them with weapons if they do something the USA doesn’t want. The F-35 is only useful if you get the missiles and spare parts for it.

GoonerBoomer69

Saudi Arabia has been a strategic partner (if not true ally) of the United States for a long time. In addition to wanting to maintain a secure flow of oil, of which the kingdom has plenty, the United States also has considerable interest in strengthening Saudi Arabia as a deterrent against Iran. Saudi, a Sunni country, and Iran, a Shia country, have been locked in a regional cold war for decades, and Saudi Arabia has been fighting Iran-backed proxy forces in Yemen for years. 

Believe me, I'm not gonna pretend like the Saudi government is a bunch of good people, they're repressive theocrats with a horrible human rights record, but they happen to be opposed to the repressive theocrats with a horrible human rights record that we hate. Anything that strengthens our regional allies (Saudi Arabia &amp; Israel) is better for us as we can focus our energy on more important theaters.

Fit-Rate-6507

When we sell armaments to foreign countries, they're usually getting a dumbed-down version with the most classified components swapped out.

Bootmacher

There are export models available that don't give em some of our best technologies. The F-35 was designed with this in mind from the get go, and it follows the same trend we've done for other foreign sales. For example we've also sold Saudi Arabia and other countries Abrams tanks, but they're downgraded.

But that aside, this question feels loaded, but perhaps is just based in fallacy. What does some of the hijackers being Saudi citizens have to do with the Saudi military? By this logic, Timothy McVeigh was an American citizen, why do we still rent Ryder trucks and vans to people? Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, why do we help them with defense? In fact, Japan has a facility to construct F-35s.

There's a bigger picture here, and that's geopolitics.

illogictc

We’ve been selling to Saudi for decades. They fly F-15s, Apaches, and Blackhawks currently. They’re all the export models. The export model of the F-35 is the next step. It was always going to go to them, eventually.

Saudi is our biggest buffer in the region against Iran. They’re a major supplier of our heavy crude oil  we don’t have enough capacity to refine the light crude we extract here since we’ve been buying heavy Gulf crude for decades. It’s cheaper to import. The excess we extract, We ship our oil to be refined elsewhere, they refine it, and ship some of the product back. Saudi plays a big role in this. They ship us their crude, which we refine and use domestically. They’re a major player in OPEC. They’re more of a strategic partner, than an ally. An ally will come to your defense when needed. Saudi is under no obligation to do so.

R1CHARDCRANIUM

 Saudi Arabia's position between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf puts it in a strategic position for "control" of both places.   
 It also contains two of Islam's holiest sites, which gives them tremendous influence on internal religious politics.   
 It's one of the biggest oil producers in OPEC and is influential on its policies.   
  Those things are always a factor in US/Saudi relations.  


  Then there is Trump's reason- The ruling family is insanely rich and lives in a splendor that Trump craves for his own ego.  He always bends over backwards for people/groups richer and/or more powerful than he is.

firefighter_raven

The US has had friendly relations with Saudi Arabia for a long time. Bin Laden declared jihad against the Saudi royal family in response to the Saudi government hosting US troops after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Al Qaeda was full of Saudis for roughly the same reason J6ers were predominately American.

There are many, many reasons to think the US should reconsider it's stance on Saudi Arabia. But there's a line of thinking here that seriously ignores the complexities of Middle Eastern countries.

AKA-Pseudonym

I can't think of anyone better suited to the delicate matter of determining which options we are willing to sell on those planes; what kind of armament, communications, and electronic warfare equipment. I am sure he is well versed in the capabilities of specific equipment and our position on transfer of that technology.
/s in case maga is reading

bobroberts1954

Because SA is going to grant him safe harbor when he is no longer president, and allow him to build more gaudy hotels there.  (Funny that Trump doesn't even realize he's *old* and not likely to see any of those projects completed.)

brock_lee

The 9/11 Saudi connection was wayyyy overblown. Those Saudi citizens were enemies of the Saudi Arabian government, who kicked them out. They were by no means allies or helped by Saudi Arabia.

Jew_of_house_Levi

Other commenters have already mentioned the political and strategic situation with Saudi Arabia, however I wanted to comment specifically on the F-35s we are selling to them.

The version of the F-35 (or any other fighter) the US exports to other countries, is not the same version that we use in our military. Many of its more advanced functions and capabilities are stripped out so the version that the Saudi's are getting are far less advanced.

The other part of this is that selling fighters also comes with a maintenance agreement with them. If the Saudi's do something the US does not like, we can rescind the maintenance agreement with them so they can no longer fix the F-35s we sold them. This effectively makes them very large paper weights as the Saudi's cannot produce the parts that are needed to keep the plane airborne.

Soviman0

Because the U.S. government nderstands that the saudi government is not responsible for the actions of those people. and the Saudis have been one of the strongest Allies the US has in MENA for generations.

MourningWallaby

Because the Saudis are making Trump and his useless kids very wealthy.

daveashaw

did the hijackers commit state sponsored terrorism? no. is the Saudi government responsible for what extremism does abroad? no.

 the US most sophisticated weapon is the F22. not the F35.  there's a specific law prohibiting its export. the f35 still needs a congressional review for saudi to get them. then there's also the US israeli law. that israeli needs to have a technological leap amongst the middle eastern countries. 

the intelligence community recently set out a report off their concerns of saudi arabia getting them, as tech might leak to china, and its a very valid concern, unfortunately the current administration doesn't care

Repulsive-Swim4665

It’s jarring to see how fast geopolitics forgets what ordinary people never will. But to governments, alliances aren’t about memory, they’re about power, leverage, and whatever keeps the balance from tipping. It feels cold, but that’s the part of foreign policy most of us struggle to stomach.

CherryBlossomThirst

1 - Saudi Arabia is a strong ally to the USA against Iran and against other entities nearby. 

2 - Saudi Arabia needs the US protection because they dont guarantee the safety of any of their water access points. 

3 - It is really stupid for 2 nations to be permanently locked in a certain stance, especially one that goes against both of their benefits, over a singular event that happened 24 years ago and killed barely 2000 people.

4 - I guarantee you that is USA experiences shortages in oil or price increases for failing to meet the competitive prices of Saudi oil, the average American will rise up against the local government far faster than they ever did against the Saudis.

5 - Geopolitics have never been about ideologies or stances. They've always been about securing benefits. It's not even just America. That's everybody. It's why UAE are funding terrorists over their own muslim brothers in Sudan. Why America defends Israeli terrorism, Why Pakistan allies with China despite their treatment of the Uyghurs. Why Germany tried to underhandedly keep Russian oil flowing despite The Ukraine war.

TLDR: Money talks. Simple as.

ahtemsah

One thing to remember is that while it's almost certain that someone in the House of Saud was a benefactor for Al-Qaeda for 9/11, we don't know who it was, and the larger House is very friendly to the US. I'm not saying it's right, I don't think it is. But I would also say that it's not exactly giving money or resources to the actual people responsible for the attacks. There are a lot of reasons to not sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the loose familial ties to the 9/11 attacks aren't really one of them.

Crizznik

How far do you wanna go back? 


Lots of southerners fought for the right to secede,  but that symbol is on the back of how many pickup trucks.


Unless there was tacit governmental backing of the plan, whats there to argue? As of now, SA is an ally.


Its like saying a slight majority of criminals who do X are of Y racial background. Why are they getting government handouts? We should round them all up and deport them. 

whiskeytango55

Boris740

For what it's worth, we're already working on generation 6 fighters.

But the reason is likely just garden variety corruption.

limbodog

The U.S props up Saudi military to keep the balance of power against iran their traditional rival.  We have been doing it for decades.  This isn’t a Trump thing it’s a US policy.  We don’t want to see an Iranian hegemony in the Middle East.  It’s why we propped up Iraq in the 80s; it’s mostly why we dump billions and billions into Israel and Pakistan.   Not just a US thing either.  Russia does it for Syria.  China does this for North Korea.  Western Europe does this for Eastern Europe.  Rome did this against the German tribes.  Big powers don’t want to see smaller powers become big powers that threaten their turf.  so you stock up their enemy or rival to keep things balanced.  This strategy backfires constantly but it’s what we have done since we came down from the trees.

hulkingbeast

The U.S. wants to stabilize the Middle East. The way it has gone about doing so is the Abraham Accords, which Saudi Arabia has not yet signed. The U.S. is using the F-35 as a bargaining chip for the them to sign it.

locking8

Because the Saudis paid Kushner $2 billion

Shiftymennoknight

First off, the U.S. is the largest arms dealer in the world. So U.S. companies/ government sell arms to many allied or aligned countries. The Saudis are one such nation that the U.S. has sold a lot of  weapons to in the past. In the tens of billions of dollars.

Second, the Saudis love to buy U.S. made weapons. They look cool and come with a reputation of lethality. Their miltery cares more about looking cool than actually being effective. 

Third, the versions of U.S. weapons that we sell are not the same as the ones we use. Those Abrhams tanks that the Saudis bought have steel armor, not ceramic or reactive armor. So those F-35s will have some of the advanced tech, but not all of it.

Admiral_AKTAR

Saudi Arabia has been a major US ally in the middle east for decades.

As far as 9/11, it doesnt really matter where the hijackers were from if their government isnt involved in the attack (although thats up for debate). There are plenty of americans that do stupid shit abroad.

docfarnsworth

MOH_HUNTER264

Why would saudi terrorist imply all of Saudi arabia? That is nonsense.

9/11 was planned by terrorists of other countries, not Bin Laden. Bin laden was a **renegade** Saudi that betrayed his famiky and country nevause they didnt like the US alliance.

Lazzen

Because the United States is the world's largest arms dealer. If there was world peace the United States economy would collapse.

Honest_Angle_1793

Individuals are responsible for what they do, not races, nations, or citizens of the same nationality.  As Americans we don't see collective punishment or even responsibility as a thing.  The Saudi Arabian government was also instrumental in dismantling Al Qaeda.

Striking-Fan-4552

Saud family assisted in making al qaeda on instructions from cia. Al qaeda demonized muslims in order to make it easy for israel to bomb the shit out of us. Now saudia will use f35s to give further protection to israeli interests in middle east.

lockerno177

If you don’t think defense contractors have significant influence on American politics you have to be extremely naive. This is all about them cashing in. 

Here’s the hard truth, they don’t care about what you mentioned, they want the money.

KiLLiNDaY

The approval of F-35 fighter jet sales to Saudi Arabia raises concerns about Israel's military edge and shifts in regional security dynamics.

US-Saudi F-35 Deal and Regional Military Balance

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want