The White House is considering selling 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia, with only one concern: China!

Recently, Reuters disclosed that the U.S. is seriously considering selling up to 48 F-35A stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia - one of the most advanced and sensitive fifth-generation fighter jets in U.S. foreign military sales. If the deal is finalized, Saudi Arabia will become the second Middle Eastern country after Israel to possess the F-35, and the first Arab country to acquire this aircraft type.

However, according to a Pentagon internal intelligence assessment report cited by The New York Times, the biggest concern for the U.S. is not regional balance, nor even Iran's reaction, but "China may obtain key technologies of the F-35."

The Pentagon believes that in recent years, military and technological cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China has significantly deepened. In 2022, Saudi Arabia participated in the "Peace Unity-2022" joint military exercise hosted by China for the first time; in 2023, Saudi defense officials visited China multiple times, and both sides discussed defense technologies such as drones, artificial intelligence, and satellite navigation. More notably, Saudi Arabia has purchased multiple weapon systems from China, including the CH-4 drone and the DF-3 ballistic missile (although the latter is older), showing that its arms procurement sources are gradually diversifying.

The F-35 is a highly integrated information warfare platform, equipped with the AN/APG-81 active phased array radar, distributed aperture system (DAS), electronic warfare suite, and data links deeply coupled with the U.S. global combat network. Once deployed in Saudi Arabia, its maintenance, upgrades, and even daily operations will rely on the support of U.S. technical personnel.

However, the Pentagon is concerned that, given the increasingly close cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia, China may indirectly access the sensitive subsystems of the F-35 through channels such as technology cooperation, joint R&D, or logistics support - even if it's just some non-core components, it could help China reverse-engineer its stealth design, sensor fusion logic, or communication protocols.

At the same time, Israel's stance has also become decisive. Israeli media revealed that Netanyahu is holding secret tripartite talks with Washington and Riyadh, trying to link the F-35 sale to Saudi recognition of Israel - specifically, Israel is willing to tacitly allow Saudi Arabia to obtain the F-35, provided that Saudi Arabia abandons the condition of "Palestinian statehood" as a prerequisite for establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1848921504772096/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.