The United Arab Emirates will abandon the F-35 in favor of Chinese aircraft or raise bids in bidding with the United States. Yesterday, February 23, the portal defenseworld.net He reported that the UAE Defense Ministry announced the purchase of Chinese L-15 combat training aircraft.
The official announcement indicates the completion of final negotiations on the purchase of 12 L-15 aircraft with a possible expansion of the order to 48 units. At the end of last year, the UAE announced the freezing of negotiations on a deal worth $23 billion, under which it was planned to purchase 50 F-35s. The US did not agree to sell its latest "stealth" if the UAE did not abandon the Chinese equipment of 5G networks.
L-15 Falcon aircraft
Image source: savunmasanayist.com
Now the situation with the purchase of American fighters is even more aggravated. Since it is unusual for the UAE Defense Ministry to announce military deals in advance, this caused rumors that in this way the Emiratis are trying to "squeeze" the Americans to sell the F-35.
The L-15 Falcon is the export name of the Hongdu JL-10, a Chinese combat training aircraft manufactured by CATIC. The manufacturer positions the L-15 as the best-in-class aircraft capable of performing the tasks of a light attack aircraft. It was created on the basis of the Russian Yak-130 and was developed jointly with the Russian Yakovlev Design Bureau and the Ukrainian Progress Design Bureau.
