$10 billion defense sale by the US to UAE sees progress.

 The United States department has made an unofficial deal of $10 billion defense sale to the United Arab Emirates. 

As per a report in Reuters, the US state department has sent a notification to the congress and informed them about plans to sell $10 billion of defense equipment, which will include selling precision-guided munitions, non-precision bombs and missiles to the United Arab Emirates. 

The proposal, which was first reported by CNN, has not yet officially been addressed and the state department spokesperson also denied commenting on the policy. The ordinance was reportedly submitted late Thursday in front of the congress, which came after president Trump planned to sell sophisticated armed aerial drones to the UAE. 

These latest developments have come after the US was notifying the congress about potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to the middle eastern country. 

The strength in the relationship between the UAE and US were fully established when the Arab state agreed to open its borders for Israel. Middle Eastern countries had denounced recognising Israel and only four countries till now have recognised the Jew state--Egypt, Jordan, UAE and Bahrain.

As soon as UAE made the official announcement, Bahrain also became part of the peace deal that allows the countries to carry out trade deals and other diplomatic deals with Israel. This move was especially condemned by Irana and Turkey. 

Palestine had also condemned the decision saying that it was against the interest of the country. But the UAE, during the signing event cleared the air saying that it was signing the deal in return of the promise that Israel will stop its annexation plans on the West Bank. Since then a lot of developments have been made as far as the relations between the two are considered. 

If the deal works out, it will make the UAE only second country in the region to get the fifth-generation system. “That the Israelis have no objection suggests that the agreement between Israel and the UAE isn’t just based on mutual interest, but also on trust. The potential sale of the F-35 to the UAE signals just how seriously the Emiratis take the Iranian threat,” Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told CNBC. 

Source: 

https://in.reuters.com/article/us-usa-emirates-ordnance/trump-administration-advances-10-billion-defense-sale-to-uae-source-idUSKBN27N02B

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/30/trump-plans-to-sell-f-35-fighter-jets-to-uae-but-hurdles-remain.html