Trump said poised to offer Saudi Arabia over $100 billion weapons package
In visit to Middle East next month, US president will reportedly look to revive Biden’s efforts to secure major defense deal after lifting ban on offensive arms sales to Riyadh
The United States is poised to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth well over $100 billion, six sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters Thursday, saying the proposal is being lined up for announcement during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the kingdom in May.
The offered package comes after the administration of former president Joe Biden unsuccessfully tried to finalize a defense pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel, which was placed on the backburner due to the kingdom’s insistence that such a plan must include Palestinian statehood, a nonstarter for Jerusalem.
The Biden proposal offered access to more advanced US weaponry in return for halting Chinese arms purchases and restricting Beijing’s investment in the country. Reuters did not specify if the Trump administration’s proposal includes similar requirements.
The White House, Pentagon and Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In his first term, Trump celebrated weapons sales to Saudi Arabia as good for US jobs.
Lockheed Martin could supply a range of advanced weapons systems, including C-130 transport aircraft, two of the sources said. One source said Lockheed would also supply missiles and radars.
RTX Corp, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, is also expected to play a significant role in the package, which will include supplies from other major US defense contractors such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman Corp and General Atomics, said four of the sources.
All the sources declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop and General Atomics declined to comment, and Boeing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters did not immediately establish how many of the deals on offer were new, and many have been in the works for some time, two of the sources said.
For example, the kingdom first requested information about General Atomics’ drones in 2018, they said. Over the past 12 months, a deal for $20 billion of General Atomics’ MQ-9B SeaGuardian-style drones and other aircraft came into focus, according to one of the sources.
Several executives from defense companies are considering traveling to the region as a part of the delegation, three of the sources said.
The US has long supplied Saudi Arabia with weapons. In 2017, Trump proposed approximately $110 billion in sales to the kingdom.
As of 2018, only $14.5 billion of sales had been initiated and Congress began to question the deals in light of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In 2021, under Biden, Congress imposed a ban on sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi killing and to pressure the kingdom to wind down its Yemen war, which had inflicted heavy civilian casualties.
Under US law, major international weapons deals must be reviewed by members of Congress before they are finalized.
The Biden administration began to soften its stance on Saudi Arabia in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacted global oil supplies. The ban on offensive weapons sales was lifted in 2024, as Washington worked more closely with Riyadh in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught to devise a plan for postwar Gaza.
A potential deal for Lockheed’s F-35 jets, which the kingdom has been reportedly interested in for years, is expected to be discussed, three of the sources said, while downplaying the chances for an F-35 deal being signed during the trip.
The United States guarantees that its close ally Israel receives more advanced American weapons than Arab states, giving it what is labeled a “Qualitative Military Edge” (QME) over its neighbors.
Israel has now owned F-35s for nine years, building multiple squadrons. On Friday, the military said three new F-35I fighter jets had landed at the Nevatim Airbase the previous night, joining the 140th Squadron and bringing the Air Force’s F-35 fleet to 45.
The three jets are part of Israel’s initial order of 50 F-35 jets. Another 25 were ordered last year.
Emanuel Fabian and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.