DOMINANT ANGLE
Dhaka gauges the sale of F-35s in light of the war Riyadh is already waging on two fronts, against Iran and the Houthis, more than in terms of the qualitative military advantage Washington is supposed to guarantee Israel.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Estimated sale worth $24.3 billion for 48 F-35A jets, 49 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, equipment, and logistical support (TBS News).
- 02
The US Congress must still approve the sale; it would be the first delivery of F-35 jets to the kingdom.
- 03
Israel, the sole regional operator of the F-35, sees the sale as a test of the US definition of its "qualitative military edge" against Arab states.
ANALYSIS
Dhaka, Friday, September 18, 2026. The Bangladeshi press, relaying international dispatches, reports that the US State Department approved the potential sale of 48 stealth F-35A fighter jets from Lockheed Martin to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, September 17, for an estimated amount of $24.3 billion. The contract also includes 49 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, communication equipment, spare parts, and logistical support, the State Department specified, as cited by TBS News. The sale must still be reviewed by the US Congress before any delivery, which would be the first of its kind to the Saudi kingdom.
The two titles consulted in Dhaka, The Daily Star and TBS News, place the announcement in the context of the war that Riyadh is facing on several fronts. The Daily Star recalls that Saudi Arabia has been the repeated target of drone and missile strikes from Iran since Washington and Israel went to war against Tehran in February, and that it is also suffering attacks from Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, whose civil war in Yemen has flared up again in July. The Houthis have since declared a maritime blockade of the kingdom and targeted its ships in the Red Sea, a context that the dispatch presents as the backdrop for this arms purchase.
TBS News emphasizes another point: the sale would test the definition that Washington gives to maintaining the "qualitative military edge" of its Israeli ally, the only country in the region already operating the F-35. The Saudi embassy in Washington welcomed the operation on X, presenting it as a reflection of "the strength and durable nature" of the strategic partnership with the United States. The State Department, for its part, asserts that the sale will strengthen Riyadh's ability to deter threats without altering the regional military balance.
Neither article develops the fear, reported elsewhere, of Chinese access to the stealth technology of the aircraft via Riyadh's partnerships with Beijing: an angle absent from the two Bangladeshi dispatches, focused on the face-off with Iran and the Houthis rather than the technological dimension of the transfer.
SOURCES (2)
- The Daily StarMEDIUM
- TBS NewsMEDIUM
