Trump Administration - Arms Sales to United Arab Emirates (UAE)

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UPDATES: On January 27, Secretary of State Blinken indicated that the State Department was reviewing arms sales, which was separately and widely reported as including those to the UAE. Reuters reported on January 20 that the UAE signed agreements on the sale of F-35s and armed drones just an hour before the inauguration of President Biden. On December 30, the New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs filed a lawsuit seeking to block these sales (see press release, brief).
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On November 10, Secretary of State Pompeo said "Today, I directed the Department to formally notify Congress of our intent to authorize the UAE’s proposed purchase of several advanced capabilities that are worth $23.37 billion, for up to 50 F-35 Lightning II aircraft, valued at $10.4 billion; up to 18 MQ-9B Unmanned Aerial Systems, valued at $2.97 billion; and a package of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, valued at $10 billion."  

On November 18, Senators Menendez (D-N.J.), Paul (R-Ky), and Murphy (D-Conn) introduced resolutions of disapproval, followed shortly after by Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) doing the same in the House. On November 30, more than two dozen national and international organizations similarly called for the sales to be stopped (see "Civil Society" resources below).

On December 9, the Senate voted 46-50 on blocking MQ-9B sale and 47-49 on blocking F-35 sales, meaning that the resolutions of disapproval (77, 78) did not pass in the Senate.

These long controversial potential sales came shortly after the so-called Abraham Accords normalizing relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, brokered in part by Trump administration efforts.

According to an early November 2020 State Department factsheet, the U.S. has $28.1 billion in active government-to-government sales cases with the UAE under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system and since 2014 has also authorized the permanent export of over $7.2 billion in defense articles to the UAE via the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) process. (Note: this does NOT include the $23 billion + notified on November 10.) 

Emergency declarations made by the Trump administration in 2019 in part to facilitate arms to the UAE met stiff Congressional resistance, resulting in multiple resolutions of disapproval and eventual vetoes by the President to block Congress from stopping related sales. The Inspector General report (unredacted, widely available via public media) into these declarations indicated that the department had acted legally, and also revealed that it had approved transfers of weapons below the threshold for Congressional notification, with an estimated $11.2 billion in approvals to Saudi Arabia and the UAE between January 2017 and late 2019. It also concluded "that the Department did not fully assess risks and implement mitigation measures to reduce civilian casualties" as related to precision guided munitions that were included in the emergency declaration. 

Experts to contact: Kate Kizer, William Hartung, Brittany Benowitz, Emma Soubrier, Jodi Vittori,  Seth Binder, Jeff Abramson

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EXPERT RESPONSES
Forum on the Arms Trade-listed experts* provided the following public comments on this topic. Please contact experts directly for further comments:  ​
William Hartung Director, Arms and Security Project, Center for International Policy - November 10, 2020 - See also his Forbes op-ed on November 22
This is no time to be offering a major weapons package to the United Arab Emirates.  The UAE's role in the brutal war in Yemen, its violations of the UN arms embargo on Libya, and its transfers of U.S.-supplied weapons to extremist groups in Yemen should disqualify it from receiving U.S. arms at this time.  Doing so is just an endorsement of its unacceptable conduct that will enable it to do more damage in the region.
Brittany Benowitz   Independent expert  - November 10, 2020
The United States should not be providing aircraft to the UAE until is determines what role the UAE played in unlawful airstrikes in Yemen. Until the UAE has fully investigated those responsible for unlawful airstrikes and the United States can ensure that these aircraft will not be used in unlawful activity, it would be illegal to proceed with the sale of F-35s to the Kingdom.
Kate Kizer Policy Director, Win Without War - November 10, 2020
“Donald Trump’s plan to sell $23 billion worth of aircraft, drones, and bombs to the United Arab Emirates on his way out the White House door is reprehensible. This deal can’t be divorced from the deep influence machine the UAE has built in Washington and within this administration...."  See full statement here.

​*  Inclusion on the Forum on the Arms Trade expert list does not indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of others. Institutional affiliation is indicated for identification purposes only. Please contact experts directly for further comments.