Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Israel eyes new Lockheed F-35 fighter
Reuters ^ | 6/4/08 | Jim Wolf

Posted on 06/04/2008 7:32:56 PM PDT by Dawnsblood

Israel wants to start buying radar-evading Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets as soon as 2011, with delivery likely about two years later, a U.S. F-35 program official said on Wednesday.

The interest in acquiring an initial batch of up to 25 F-35s dovetails with Israeli fears that Iran is seeking a nuclear bomb and could have it as soon as 2010, sooner than predicted by the United States.

Iran says its nuclear ambitions are limited to generating electricity.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in Washington on Tuesday, at the start of a three-day visit to the United States, that the Iranian nuclear program must be stopped by "all possible means."

The single-seat, supersonic F-35 is hard to detect by radar and is designed to knock out enemy fighters while simultaneously carrying out bombing missions.

Olmert was to meet President George W. Bush later on Wednesday for talks that could include Israel's interest in the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. Israel also may be interested later in the F-35B version that can land vertically.

"It's possible that things could come up," said Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, when asked about possible Bush-Olmert talks on arms sales to Israel. "Obviously Israel wants to defend itself, and the United States has been supportive."

An Israeli Embassy spokesman declined to comment.

Israel is seeking to integrate its own weapons, communications, command, control and intelligence systems into the F-35, said the Pentagon program official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the matter's sensitivity.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; armsbuildup; f35; israel; lightningii; middleeast
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

1 posted on 06/04/2008 7:36:19 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Dawnsblood

Since it’s a “joint” program, Israel should be one of the first partners receiving new units. They’ll test the envelope better than anyone for us too.


2 posted on 06/04/2008 7:42:39 PM PDT by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dawnsblood

The F35 will make every other fighter on earth obsolete. Who wouldn’t want it?


3 posted on 06/04/2008 7:42:39 PM PDT by Hugin (Mecca delenda est!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hugin

We’re still keeping the best for ourselves.


4 posted on 06/04/2008 7:44:49 PM PDT by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Dawnsblood

I want one, that’ll clean up the neighborhood!


5 posted on 06/04/2008 7:45:00 PM PDT by east1234 (It's the borders stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dawnsblood

This fighter and the F-22 will provide total air superiority for a couple of decades. Iran had best be afraid, very afraid.


6 posted on 06/04/2008 7:47:24 PM PDT by Wiseghy ("You want to break this army? Then break your word to it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dawnsblood
Just because a pic of this is cool:


7 posted on 06/04/2008 7:51:52 PM PDT by Damifino (The true measure of a man is found in what he would do if he knew no one would ever find out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wiseghy

Yep. They are as far ahead of current fighters as the F14 and F15 were when they were introduced 30 years ago. A plane that can fly at nearly Mach 2 without using afterburners, while completely stealthy. The first sign enemy fighters would have is when missiles suddenly appear out of nowhere on radar in front of or behind them.

Of course the F15 with our pilots will still smoke the vast majority of what other countries have, and will still see service for some time to come.


8 posted on 06/04/2008 7:55:21 PM PDT by Hugin (Mecca delenda est!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Wiseghy
This fighter and the F-22 will provide total air superiority for a couple of decades. Iran had best be afraid, very afraid.

It's not Iran that we need to impress:


9 posted on 06/04/2008 7:55:37 PM PDT by Damifino (The true measure of a man is found in what he would do if he knew no one would ever find out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Golden Eagle
... Israel should be one of the first partners receiving new units.

In the meantime we should lend-lease Israel a dozen B-1s and all the F-117s currently in mothballs. Say maybe at a buck a year. Maybe that would help stabilize the region.

10 posted on 06/04/2008 8:06:20 PM PDT by kitchen (Any day without a fair tax thread is a good day.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Dawnsblood

The F-35 can’t be so great if Bruce Willis was able to destroy one in a fight in the last Die Hard movie.


11 posted on 06/04/2008 8:13:11 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Damifino

The US should not sell the F-35 to Israel, until Israel cleans up it act with regards to military exports to America’s enemies.

Thanks to Israel, China has a fighter which US taxpayers paid to develop.


12 posted on 06/04/2008 8:15:17 PM PDT by PanzerKardinal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Hugin
"The F35 will make every other fighter on earth obsolete. Who wouldn’t want it?"

I thought the F-22 could still run circles around an F-35 JSF.

13 posted on 06/04/2008 9:29:03 PM PDT by libs_kma (The land of the free, because of the brave)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: libs_kma

That is correct. The F-22 is the air superiority fighter; the F-35 is the workhorse.


14 posted on 06/04/2008 9:42:24 PM PDT by Philo-Junius (One precedent creates another. They soon accumulate and constitute law.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Philo-Junius; libs_kma

And just think what it will do when IAI makes their mods...;)


15 posted on 06/04/2008 11:03:51 PM PDT by Tainan (Talk is cheap. Silence is golden. All I got is brass...lotsa brass.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: PanzerKardinal

I agree!
I am Jewish and support Israel but I think Israel has become a banana republic thanks to the USA and thanks to itself- a country with no guts.
Israel won the 1967 war without US help.
It should wean itself off US aid (with all the strings attached) and jack up its own ability to produce aircraft.

As for giving secrets away, its all on in love and war.
The US gave Israeli secrets to the Saudis in the past. Nothing new. So Israel helped China with a jet, yeh so what?

The Chinese jet is just one of its jets, not the only one. The Chinese Su27 is far superior in many ways. Also the Lavi based jet by now is 2 decades old in design. It is a non stealthy base design and the JSF and F22 are way ahead.


16 posted on 06/05/2008 2:04:13 AM PDT by Scubes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: libs_kma

I stand corrected, I was confusing the two. The F35 has a top speed of Mach 1.6, the F22 has a top speed of about Mach 2, with a supercruise speed of Mach 1.78.


17 posted on 06/05/2008 5:23:32 AM PDT by Hugin (Mecca delenda est!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

18 posted on 06/05/2008 5:30:33 AM PDT by SJackson (It is impossible to build a peace process based on blood, Natan Sharansky)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Hugin
The F35 will make every other fighter on earth obsolete.

Inexperienced you are, young Skywalker, in the ways of the Force? Most powerful in the galaxy, the F-22 is.


19 posted on 06/05/2008 5:35:14 AM PDT by CholeraJoe ("Singing 'Sweet Home Alabama' all summer long!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Telepathic Intruder

It wasn’t a fair fight, Bruce had a pistol.


20 posted on 06/05/2008 7:46:37 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Mossad!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson