Posted on 05/04/2016 12:42:06 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
An F-35. U.S. Air Force photo
Israel is practically a launch customer for the American-designed F-35 stealth fighter. The Jewish state plans on declaring its first squadron of the radar-evading jet combat-ready by the end of 2017.
That’s just two years after the U.S. Marine Corps’ declaration of war-readiness for its F-35s — and one year later than the U.S. Air Force’s own planned introduction of the new plane.
And Israel’s F-35s will be unique. While most foreign customers of the stealth fighter plan to operate fairly standard F-35s, Tel Aviv is heaping its own special tech onto the airframe.
And that’s not the only way in which Israel’s F-35s will be unique. The country should also possess a regional F-35 monopoly for at least a decade after bringing the stealth fighters into service.
Israel has a long tradition of adding unique hardware and software to jet fighters it acquires from abroad.
With their fuselage-mounted fuel tanks, enlarged spines for housing avionics and other additions, Israeli air force F-16s are distinctive compared to their more mundane American counterparts.
With U.S. approval, the Israeli F-35I will possess a locally-designed command-and-control system that adds to the plane’s existing capabilities. On April 3, Israel Aerospace Industries announced that it had completed testing of the new add-on, which amounts to a software-driven radio interface that Benni Cohen, an IAI manager, described as being similar to a smartphone app.
“It’s open architecture, which sits on the F-35’s central system, much like an application on your iPhone,” Cohen told Defense News. “It paves the way for additional advanced capabilities to be embedded in the F-35I in the future.”
Meanwhile, Israeli firm Rafael told Jane’s it would add its Spice-1000 precision-guided bomb to the F-35I. The Spice-1000 adds a guidance kit and pop-out wings to standard 1,000-pound bombs, giving them the ability to strike targets as far as 60 miles from the launching aircraft.
Moreover, Israel’s F-35s will not be wedded to the Autonomic Logistics Information System, a global network of data-sharing that F-35-builder Lockheed Martin is developing in order to coordinate maintenance and upgrades for most of the world’s F-35s.
Instead, the United States is considering authorizing Israel to repair its F-35s and their engines at its own depots.
And Israeli F-35s will be special in one other very important regard. While Lockheed and the U.S. government specifically designed the F-35 to be widely exportable, Washington has vowed not to sell the F-35 to Israel’s Middle East neighbors, essentially handing Tel Aviv a stealth-fighter monopoly … for a while, at least.
“Right now, we do not have any expectation for selling the F-35 in the near term, beyond the countries that have already bought into the program,” Bob Work, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, told Defense News in response to a query about potential F-35 sales to Arab countries.
Instead, Washington has been pushing upgraded older-model fighters in the Middle East — and recently signed off on sales of F-15s to Qatar and F/A-18s to Kuwait. Saudi Arabia is also buying factory-fresh F-15s, while Iraq is acquiring F-16s.
Israel has ordered 33 F-35Is at a cost of more than $5 billion — paid for by U.S. military aid — and should sign-on for an additional 17 of the planes as part of a new arms package that the country is currently negotiating with the U.S. government. Washington has approved Tel Aviv to acquire up to 75 F-35s.
Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon plans to be in Texas in late June in order to formally accept the first F-35I as it rolls out of Lockheed’s Fort Worth factory.
“Israel has a long tradition of adding unique hardware and software to jet fighters it acquires from abroad.”
It’s not just the jets. The modify just about everything and make it better is some way.
“Israel has a long tradition of adding unique hardware and software to jet fighters it acquires from abroad.”
As the saying goes, Necessity is the mother of Invention - and the Israelis have been in a “necessity” situation from before their independence. The HAVE to win all wars and all engagements, period. Remember that the cell phone was effectively invented in Israel, and that Intel has been designing most of its new chips there for many years. Their technology is bleeding edge - and I’d like to think that a lot of it finds its way over here to benefit our Air Force.
If the Israelis want this thing, maybe the F-35 isn’t as big a turkey as I’ve heard.
"Defense officials had argued that the purchase would be funded entirely by the military aid the United States gives Israel. "
IAF only need the primary variant not the carrier or jump jet. Their area of ops is free of weather and moisture most of the time.
A lot of systems we need they have no use for. they have their own stores and standoff weapons, and their own tactics and doctrine. Our will be all-singing all-dancing; theirs just need to know a couple of songs and dances, but have these very well nailed down.
You mean they’ll actually operated below budget, as designed, and survive a dogfight?
They’ll have a better than 1-in-6 success rate when taking off.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/02/463586/JSF-F35-Pentagon-Gilmore/
Is it running Windows 10?
By the time they are done moding it I bet it will look a lot like a Warthog.
“And Israel’s F-35s will be unique.”
As most countries jets will be.
“While most foreign customers of the stealth fighter plan to operate fairly standard F-35s,”
There is no “standard” version. Each country has their own limitations as to what technology we can export to them. It is “FMF security deletions.”
“Tel Aviv is heaping its own special tech onto the airframe.”
Only with the help of the US. They can’t just add their own kit as the code is secure and need US assistance to incorporate changes.
“Israel has a long tradition of adding unique hardware and software to jet fighters it acquires from abroad.”
In accordance with the LOA. . .
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Interesting the Arabs and Euros don't boycott cell phones and wireless internet.
I've read that they don't want it. They wanted to buy new F-15 Silent Eagles but our Administration told them if they want our military aid, they have to buy the F-35.
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