What planes were those? I am trying to think of what they could be (unless you mean selling them F-22 Raptors) and I am not coming up with anything. Especially considering the Israelis operate one of the bigger fleets of F-15s (both C and E variants) and F-16s; and will be getting the F-35 (if it ever solves all its technical/cost issues). What planes are you referring to? Or do you mean the F-15 Silent Eagle concept, of which none exists apart from a mock up of a modified Strike Eagle (to show what the Silent Eagle would look like) plus another modified Strike Eagle (with comformal weapon bays that was used to test firing of AMRAAMs from them). And even then it cannot be the F-15 SE concept because the only weapons it can carry internally are the AMRAAM, the Sidewinder, the JDAM and the SDB. The GBU-28 bunker buster referred to in the article is a 5,000 pound class weapon which is 25 feet long that cannot be carried internally by a fighter sized aircraft. Meaning it cannot be carried by the F-15 SE (if it gets produced), or the F-35 or F-22 for that matter. The only fighter size aircraft that can carry the GBU-28 penetrator is the F-15E (the F-111 was also cleared for it, and Australia was the last user of the Aadvark), and Israel probably has the second highest number of F-15Es in existence after the US. Hence my wondering what aircraft were denied to them for carrying this weapon.
According to every thing I read, Obama has refused to sell or deliver any military aircraft to Israel since he took office...
The C-130J is the one I was thinking of...I understand that Israel was looking for the capability to deliver bombs that required something big such as the B-52 or a C-130 type of plain...
Both Saudi Arabia (70+) and South Korea (40) operate more Strike Eagles than Israel (25). Unless one adds the F-15 fighter variants which were given strike modifications by Israel.