UAE Arms Sale Remains In Limbo Pending Biden Review

Abu Dhabi is apparently worried that the sale will be caught up in a new Biden administration review of arms sales, first reported by Reuters yesterday, aimed at placing greater weight on the human rights records of recipient countries. The Trump administration had significantly loosened the US Conventional Arms Transfer policy in order to bolster foreign sales, particularly in the Middle East.

A Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) has been issued by the US and accepted by the UAE, but “there’s been concerns raised that are being settled at the government level,” Francis Crowley, deputy chief of the Central Division at the Air Force Security and Assistance Cooperation Directorate (AFSAC), explained today.

AFSAC is part of Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, and is one of three organizations that implements DoD Foreign Military Sales.

“This is well beyond my pay grade now,” said Brig. Gen. Brian Bruckbauer, AFSAC director. “To my knowledge, this is up with the deputy secretary of defense, the deputy secretary of state, and the National Security Council. We’re just kind of in a wait and see mode.”

The $23.3 billion arms package for the UAE was approved by the Trump administration on Jan. 20, Biden’s inauguration day. The deal includes 50 F-35A fighters worth $10.4 billion, 18 MQ-9B drones at $2.97 billion, and $10 billion worth of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions. On Jan. 27, the State Department paused all FMS sales to give the Biden White House time to potentially reconsider previous decisions; but lifted the freeze on April 13.

The sale of the MQ-9, which is an armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance drone, has been particularly controversial — especially with progressive Democrats in Congress. This is in part because it is based on a Trump administration reinterpretation of the Cold War-era Missile Technology Control Regimes (MTCR), designed to prevent sales of missiles and unmanned aircraft that could carry nuclear weapons. But many in Congress also are critical of the UAE’s human rights record.