The supply of French Rafale from the UAE has a decisive effect on the country’s intention to purchase American F-35 fighter jets from that country. The game of international politics is relentless in the same way that the United States dealt a heavy multi-layered blow to France, through the cancellation of its submarine agreement with Australia and despite talks between the two Presidents of the two countries (France-US committed to rebuilding relations and strategic coordination, it turns out in practice that the French are inflicting an almost proportional blow on the Americans in the Middle East, and in particular in the United Arab Emirates.
French diplomacy has managed to discover a positive dimension to the loss suffered by France in Australia. Using the arguments of the demand for full access to the US Geopolitical “chariot” by allies claiming state-of-the-art weapons systems, France convinced the UAE of the need for Rafale supplies.
In addition to meeting their aviation business needs to a very satisfactory degree, it will give them a very strong advantage in the negotiations with the USA for the supply of the fifth generation f-35 Lightning II.
Although approval has been given for the sale to proceed, available evidence indicates that the deal is in trouble because of the demands made by the Americans. Reasonable but strategically unacceptable for the prestige of the UAE as seen by their leadership.
The United States does not want its fighter jets to fall into the hands of countries with strong ties to Russia and China for fear of leaking significant operational details of the fighters to those countries. Just as they are not discussing the release of the fighter in India at the moment, due to India’s supply of Russian S-400 Triamf and maintaining strong ties with Russia on a defense and industrial level, so in the United Arab Emirates, a number of demands are being made. which do not allow the agreement to be concluded.
They demand an end to all involvement in the program of the developing Sukhoi Su-75 “checkmate”, while they are said to want to fulfill the obligation to ensure Israel’s military and technological supremacy in the Middle East.
The Israeli configuration of the f-35 should be the most advanced, but there are individual technologies that are not released. Also, the release of all the weapons that the top fighter can carry is also said to be problematic.
The UAE, like India, but also other countries like Egypt, or even Turkey, want to maintain the independence of choices on all sides in an effort to ensure flexibility in their foreign policy and multiple choices, playing one towards the other. India and the UAE are not members of NATO, of course, like Turkey. They want to work with everyone, provided the consultations take place between equals.
France, which is part of the same category of countries and is a member of NATO, the difference is that the French domestic defense industry provides weapons systems of exceptional standards equal to or, where appropriate, and possibly superior to the corresponding American.
The United Arab Emirates, by signing an agreement for the supply of Rafale French, told the Americans that they needed to sell their own F-35s more than those in the United Arab Emirates to buy them. And that pressure would be deadlocked if the United States did not accept its terms, the door could be more open to Russia and China.
So they say that the days when the superpowers once demanded full compliance have passed irrevocably. Although the preference is clearly leaning towards the US, the UAE has the prestige, economic power and self-respect to set some, albeit substantial, conditions. Some at least in the end will succeed.
The United Arab Emirates has effectively threatened to cancel the purchase of US F-35 fighter jets in protest of strict US conditions.
The two countries, however, said they hoped to resolve the dispute. The UAE has informed the US that it is suspending talks on acquiring 50 F-35 fighters and that technical requirements, operating restrictions and a cost-benefit analysis have led to this reassessment.
The UAE country, however, has alternatives. In early December, the UAE signed an agreement with France to buy 80 Rafale fighter jets for 14 billion euros, during a visit by French President Emanuel Macron.
However, according to an official, the US remains the preferred supplier to the Emirates for high-tech systems, and despite the suspension of talks on the F-35, a UAE mission will visit the US this week for talks.
Members of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party have tried in vain to block the sale because of the Emirates’ involvement in the Saudi-led international coalition fighting in Yemen. U.S. officials are also concerned about China’s involvement in the United Arab Emirates, especially because of China’s work in a port near the capital, Abu Dhabi.
Israel has received assurances from the United States that the sale was approved in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, following a deal to normalize UAE relations with Israel involving 50 F-35 fighter jets, 18 unmanned MQ-9s and air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles totaling $ 28 billion.
