Posted on 11/11/2006 7:06:29 AM PST by MARKUSPRIME
FORT WORTH, Texas- Israel Air Force is considering ordering 100 of Lockheed Martins' F-35 fighter jets at a cost of some 5 billion dollars to be delivered as of 2014.
In recent months, senior IAF officers and defense ministry officials have visited the U.S. in order to sign an advanced deal which would allow the aircraft to be with fitted with electronic and communication systems according to their specific requirements.
Sources report negotiations have been progressing despite the troubled relationship between the American and Israel defense industries which has been on edge since U.S. opposition caused the cancellation of a deal Israel signed to deliver China with four surveillance aircraft last year.
The F-35 project, funded jointly by the U.S., Canada and the U.K., is still in the developmental stage and is scheduled to fly for the first time in late 2006.
Here is a better one. It shows the US and UK testing the 3 variants.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4742849525846050256&q=F-22+videos&hl=en
We are going to let Turkey and Japan have them, I guess Israel just doesn't want to get left behind.
While I applaud the sale I don't understand why Israel can't do with cheaper birds ... Israel has REAL PILOTS while their enemies have all the rich boys buying places in their Air Forces, they have no real oposition in the air ... quite simply Israel could be flying reconditioned F14/15/16/18 and get much more bang for the buck... The old F-20 was a great aircraft although it didn't sell well , very low maintenance...
I'd like to see a big double handful of A-10's go to Israel , ground attack is key there.
We always sold "last gen" targeting hardware and software to Israel... has this changed? can they buy the new stuff at 100% capability?
Probably because the US will pay for it.
The F-20 didn't sell at all and nearly put Northrop out of business. It's predecessor, the F-5, sold well and is still in use around the world.
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