Will be getting. Purchase. Will cost. According to State.

On 17 September the State Department issued Transmittal 26-69. The page title is “Foreign Military Sales: Congressional Notification.” The department “has made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale.” Estimated total cost: $24.3 billion. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested to buy” forty-eight F-35 aircraft and forty-nine Pratt & Whitney engines. Forty-eight installed. One spare.

The notice repeats “this proposed sale,” “the proposed sale,” “this potential sale.”

The notice contains an estimate and a request. It does not contain a delivery date or a signed contract. Congress has a notification. Congress does not have a vote. The thirty-day review for a major non-NATO ally is running. This notice carries no emergency waiver. To block the package, Congress would need a joint resolution and the votes to beat a veto.

Lockheed Martin said it “looks forward to continued collaboration as the U.S. Congressional review process advances.” The Saudi embassy called it a “proposed” sale. Principal contractors, should this become work: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, and Pratt & Whitney Military Engines in East Hartford.

Politico headlined that the administration “agrees to sell” F-35s, and led that it “agreed to sell,” then that the jets would “still need the blessing of” Congress. AFP wrote that the United States “has approved a $24.3 billion sale,” the kingdom’s “latest major arms purchase,” and that it “would require the approval of US lawmakers.” Latin Times said Trump “seals” a massive Saudi arms deal.

Readers meet a sale. Then they meet Congress.

CNN headlined “Trump admin approves sale.” The story under it called the sale “potential,” said “the sale still needs approval from Congress,” and said that “even if the sale is approved, delivery of the fighter jets would be years away.” That timetable is CNN’s. Transmittal 26-69 does not give one.

A separate notice on 4 September covered bombs for Saudi Arabia. This one lists airframes and engines. No munitions.

State says the proposed sale “will not alter the military balance in the region.” It will not require extra U.S. government or contractor representatives in the kingdom. The government “is not aware of any offset agreement.” Offsets “will be defined in negotiations.”

Forty-eight airplanes and a spare engine are on the notice, and CBS wrote that Saudi Arabia will be getting them with the purchase of the jets.