The UAE is likely to receive its first F-35s by 2027, Bilal Saab, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and former Pentagon official in charge of security cooperation in the Middle East tells Breaking Defense.
“The Gulf country is still trying to figure out how to integrate these jets into its national defense strategies and when received, they will need to know how to sustain them,” he said. “That’s one huge challenge that requires high cooperation from the U.S but let us see how Biden will handle it.”