Posted on 05/15/2015 5:52:10 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
President Obama’s Camp David summit with the Gulf Arab states on Thursday will seek to boost arms sales to the Gulf neighbors but the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been taken off their wish list.
White House officials on Monday sought to tamp down speculation that King Salman of Saudi Arabia canceled his attendance at Camp David when the U.S. made clear that his country would not be permitted to buy F-35s.
“We do not and never anticipated this to be a summit that only focused on one capability, like the F-35, for instance,” said Ben Rhodes, the deputy National Security Advisor to Obama.
“What we’re focused on is the capabilities that are most relevant to the current security challenges that the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) faces,” Rhodes said in a conference call with other administration officials.
“So, I think it would be a mistake to say that there was some list of very finite capabilities that were the only things on the table here,” Rhodes said, but discussions will continue on the Gulf states’ security needs.
Saudi Foreign Minsiter Adel al-Jubeir also denied that the F-35 or U.S. policy on Iran were factors in King Salman’s absence.
“This is not related in any way, shape or form to any disagreement between the two countries,” al-Jubeir said. “I think this idea that this is a snub because the king did not attend is really off base.”
Rhodes said that the security of the Gulf states was a “core interest” of the U.S., and “we are prepared to use all elements of our power to back up our commitment to that core interest.”
At Camp David, “there will be a discussion of a range of capabilities with respect to ballistic missile defense, with respect to cyber capabilities, with respect to countering terrorism, and the types of asymmetric threats that countries in the region are facing,” Rhodes said.
On the F-35s, Robert Malley, the National Security Council’s Mideast coordinator, said the summit was never meant to present the Gulf states with a check list on weapons.
“I think they understood this is not a case of the GCC countries coming with a shopping list and we’d have to tick off those of the items that they wanted that we would agree on,” Malley said.
Colin Kahl, the National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, noted that the U.S. has already sold vast amounts of advanced weaponry to the Gulf states, and the sale of F-35s at this time should not be a drawback.
“This administration has worked extraordinarily closely with the Gulf states to make sure that they had access to state-of-the-art armaments,” Kahl said.
The F-35 might not be on the table, “but keep in mind under this administration we moved forward on a package for the Saudis that will provide them the most advanced F-15 aircraft in the region,” Kahl said.
“The Emiratis fly the most advanced F-16s in the world. They’re more advanced than the ones our Air Force flies. Taken as a whole, the GCC last year spent nearly $135 billion on their defense. The Saudis spent more than $80 billion. Taken in comparison, the Iranians spent something like $15 billion on their defense,” Kahl said.
The Sauds and Sisi and Abdullah should learn from the Israelis who have made truly awesome machines out of their already awesome F-15s.
Turkey helped finance the F-35. They are not mentioned in the article. They will get some of the first. Evidence suggests they’ll sell access to Iran.
Turkey is a member of NATO, but it stopped being an ally some time ago. It is now an enemy we refuse to recognize as such.
not for sale to our muslim enemies? that’s when you know it’s got serious problems
meanwhile, the f-22 was given to china... which they’ve since modified and are mass producing.
Of course, the Saudisl find something reasonably comparable.....elseware
Obama's spit in the sky...
“President Obama’s Camp David summit with the Gulf Arab states on Thursday will seek to boost arms sales to the Gulf neighbors but the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been taken off their wish list.”
In other words, the muzzies are getting F35’s. They won’t be “sold” to them.
Just what “is” is?
> Turkey is a member of NATO, but it stopped being an ally some time ago. It is now an enemy we refuse to recognize as such.
I wouldn’t say that they are an enemy, but that they have left the western camp and are transitioning back to the old Ottoman camp.
White House Says F-35s Not For Sale to Gulf Arab States...
But the blue prints are for a small donation...Saz Hillary Clinton.
Let ‘em have the ‘35 - we could make enough from maintenance and downtime repairs to wipe out the deficit.
No, but we'll give 'em some when we think nobody's lookin'!
This completely unrelated to the fact that the GCC blew off a meeting with Zero, which btw was not a snub. Thanks sukhoi-30mki.
Colin Kahl, the National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, noted... "The Emiratis fly the most advanced F-16s in the world. They're more advanced than the ones our Air Force flies. Taken as a whole, the GCC last year spent nearly $135 billion on their defense. The Saudis spent more than $80 billion. Taken in comparison, the Iranians spent something like $15 billion on their defense..."
LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.