James Stavridis: The Sale of F-35 Fighter Jets to the Saudis ‘Makes Sense’

EXCERPT:

STAVRIDIS: “I think it’s always a concern when we take our absolute most-advanced jets. These are the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter nicknamed Lightnings. And they are superb aircraft with an awful lot of stealth technology built into them. They’re also a very international aircraft. There are — many of our allies are in this program already. And I think that the Saudis, I believe, can be trusted with this technology, but it’s going to bear watching as any kind of transaction does. The other party that’s quite concerned about it, Erica, you didn’t mention it, but it’s the Israelis. They have always felt they needed to have, what they call, qualitative military enhancements, that the ability to have those strongest, most capable military. So they worry when they see the Saudis getting these F-35s. But I think at the end of the day, if you’re going to move forward with this idea of the Kingdom as a major non-NATO ally, I think this sale makes sense.”