1. Summary: Israel has announced it will acquire 25 additional F35 joint strike fighters. Paraded as the ultimate sky-fighting machine, the highly computerized multirole fighter is over-engineered and requires complex maintenance, thanks to a rather embarrassing history of glitches. The Israelis seem to have overcome those to the point that they are eager to buy more F35s because their F16 Fighting Falcon fleet is ageing. The Israeli-modified F35 Adir is considered one of the most well-equipped F35 variants. The Israelis are sharing their developments and know-how knowledge of the F35 with the Government of the United States.
2. On 2 July 2023, the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMD) announced Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has approved the request of the Army Chief of Staff, Bentzi Halevi, to purchase a new squadron of the American-made Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (F35) joint strike fighters. The planned deal is worth about $3 billion, and Israel will acquire 25 new fighters, raising the total number of F35s operated by the Israeli Air Force to 75. IMD said the purchase of the fighters will be funded by the United States Military Assistance Program.
3. Note: By operating the F35, Israel belongs to a very exclusive club of barely 20 nations. Nonetheless, the F35’s effectiveness has been questioned. Marketed as a stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions, the F35 has been criticized by experts as being over-designed and therefore prone to breakdowns and not fit for the multirole missions it has been promoted to be able to do. What has not helped is the F35’s operational record, which includes a rather high number of incidents in its short history of service. Despite those not being extreme, they remain higher than those the F16 Fighting Falcon has incurred over its first decade of operations. Still, the F35 is a formidable fighter jet that has exhibited its combat ability, the over-complex design remains a challenge as it requires equally complicated maintenance. In addition, the heavily computerized F35 system has exhibited some glitches, an embarrassment to what was supposed to be a technologically unsurpassable fighter jet.
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Israel’s Almighty F35
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4. Since acquiring the F35, Israel has been working on fixing its glitches and simplifying its maintenance. The work has been undertaken by the renowned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The IAI is a government-owned aviation industry manufacturer. The IAI is known for innovative solutions and for enhancing already advanced aircraft. An example is the Israeli F16 Fighting Falcon, which the IAI has carried out over 80 modifications to its original system. This has produced an almost entirely different jet fighter called the F16 Sufa (Storm). Thanks to the changes, for over a decade and a half, the Sufa has become one of the world’s most advanced F16 variants – that was until Lockheed Martin introduced the F16V Block 70/72 variant. Eventually, the IAI’s final product was the F35 Adir, which means “almighty” or “superior” in Hebrew, and includes several “classified modifications.”
5. An Israeli defense official reported to JaFaJ sources: “IAI has been able to enhance the F35 system, with a focus on the computerization and avionics systems. Israeli engineers have enhanced or eliminated several “glitches.” Israel has shared these changes through the F35 centralized maintenance management system agreement, which has benefited all other F35 operators.” He added, “Our modifications have also included enhancing countermeasures and weapon delivery accuracy. This has allowed us to build systems that are adaptable to the F35.”
6. The Israeli official added, “We are a nation of innovation. Innovation is centric to our survival, and I won’t apologize for striving to enhance the F35.” The official added “Personally, I think our F35 Adir is one of the most advanced and best-equipped F35s in the air today, and when used in combat, the Adir has scored the F35’s first kills.”
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Israel Sharing the Knowledge, Only with Some
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7. An American defense industry source opined to JaFaJ that, “The Israelis are smart to have developed their own version of the F35. Nonetheless, they are not sharing everything with everyone.” The source continued by saying that “the technology they have developed remains mostly a secret.” Furthermore, the source added, “The reasons they are buying more F35 is most likely because they can trust the bird in combat, especially with the additions they have made to it.” The source continued by saying that “The Israelis have had their doubts about the F35’s ability to eventually replace its ageing F16 fleet. To overcome this, the Israelis have developed their own electronic warfare systems for the F35, and have agreed to share its specifics with the Pentagon.” The source concluded by saying that, “in my opinion, this was the price they had to pay to get more F35.”
8. A British military source in close working proximity to Israel confirmed to JaFaJ that “The Israelis are sharing with the Americans some of their technological modifications made to the F35.”