Israel Wants JSF As Soon As Possible

[unhappycamper]

Israel Wants JSF As Soon As Possible
Aviation Week's DTI | David A. Fulghum, Robert Wall and Douglas Barrie | December 17, 2007

Israel plans to keep its aerial domination of the Middle East intact, and that includes buying Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, accelerating its first deliveries, and deciding whose advanced equipment will be packed into the stealthy strike aircraft.

A senior Israeli air force (IAF) official says those major areas of concern appear to be on the right track because of an "understanding" with the U.S. officials. Washington's representatives are more ambiguous, saying that there has been no official change to Israel's F-35 program.

"The plan is that we will get the F-35 as soon as it's possible," the senior IAF official says. He says the service will end up with more than 100 F-35s, but he would not confirm the size of the purchase or that Israel is asking that the initial delivery date be accelerated by two years to 2012. The IAF wants the JSF "the minute it is available."

"Israel has a unique requirement, it doesn't operate in a coalition, different kind of strategic relationship" with the U.S. than the other F-35 partners," says Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin's vice president and general manager for the F-35. However, he says the overseas release of the first export aircraft will be no sooner than 2014.

The purchase, which could include an initial batch of 25 aircraft, is still being negotiated. Brig. Gen. Johanan Locker, head of the IAF's air division, was in Fort Worth as recently as late November.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,158469,00.html?wh=news



uhc comment: Previous threads on the JSF -->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=7033
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=7849
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=8042
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=8208