via Alert 5 from the Jerusalem Post.
The defense establishment will hold a series of high-level consultations over the next month with the aim of determining, by the end of July, whether it will buy the fifth-generation stealth Joint Strike Fighter.Prediction. They'll buy the airplane and if my hunch is correct they'll even buy a batch of B models. Israel is feeling besieged right now. I imagine that Lockheed Martin might get that vaunted high rate production. I can easily see the Israeli's buying their airplanes in the less than full capability mode that the Marines will be operating.
The first meeting will be held in the coming weeks and be led by IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi as well as OC Israel Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan. The second meeting, scheduled for the end of this month, will be led by Defense Ministry director-general Udi Shani. The final meeting, scheduled for July, will be headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Despite a recent round of JSF-related talks between Israeli and American officials, the parties have yet to reach an agreement regarding the sale of the plane to Israel.
The F-35 will be one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world and, according to the IAF, would significantly boost Israel’s deterrence in the region.
PS.
Alert 5 (I love those guys) also dropped this tidbit. Canada is expected to purchase the F-35....without competition.
Israel is a perfect customer for the F-35. They'll certainly know how to use it, and more importantly, maintain it.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how desperate they are for new planes. I kind of see them as buying the USAF version. Seems to be what they like to buy. Events could very well overcome that though.
As for the Canada article.
Without competition? What competition? You either buy current generation aircraft or the next (F-35). Either choice is valid based on your needs, but the two cannot be compared (capability-wise).
5th generation from China? Please. Eventually, maybe, but not in the time span of JSF reaching production.
Sukhoi is trying to sell fighters. Of course all their stuff has "anti-stealth" features. There was also a 100 mile-per-gallon carburetor back in the day. Big oil squashed that tech though.