Israel's high-quality military superiority in the Middle East, regulated by the Qualitative Military Edge (QME) mechanism, will continue after the possible sale of the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II fighters to the UAE, Defense News authors write, citing a statement by US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
The publication also disclosed one of the possible conditions of the Jewish state for the sale of aircraft by Washington to Abu Dhabi. “Notably, Israeli Calcalist reported last week that there is a strong likelihood that the wings for the F-35 Lightning II fleet in the United Arab Emirates could be produced by Israel Aerospace Industries,” Defense News said.
Explaining the action of QME, the publication writes that “Israel, as a small state surrounded by hostile countries, needs an additional advantage from its American partner in order to survive. In fact, this meant that certain types of high-tech weapons would not be allowed to be sold to the states of the region, primarily Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “
In September, UAE Prime Minister and Vice President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced that the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center had selected NASA to continue training its own astronauts for possible flights to the International Space Station (ISS. Previously, astronauts from the UAE have passed the corresponding training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (part of Roscosmos).
