Israel wants F-15's not F-35's!!!!

Thanks to Bakatya for the link!

via CarolynGlick.com

This week Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told government ministers that he may wait for the next US president before signing a new military assistance deal with America. Israel’s current military assistance package is set to expire in 2018 and the new package is supposed to include supplemental aid to compensate Israel for President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. But to date, the administration has rejected Israel’s requests for additional systems it could use to defend against Iran attacks.
Last October, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon asked US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to provide Israel with a new squadron of F-15s that Israel would outfit with its own electronics systems. Carter reportedly rejected that request as well as one for bunker buster bombs.
Carter instead insisted that Israel use the supplemental aid to purchase more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, US-made missile defense systems, and the Osprey V-22 helicopter, which Ya’alon didn’t want.
The fact that the administration wants Israel to buy more F-35s instead of F-15s is alarming both for what it tells us about America’s commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative edge against Iran and for what it tells us about the F-35, which is set to become the IAF’s next generation combat fighter.

This entire article is worth the read.  Long story short.  The Israeli's are NOT supporters of the F-35.  They recognize its weaknesses and are startled by them.

The author is extremely critical of the ALIS system and suggests teaming with India to build a next gen LAVI fighter.

This bears watching.

NOTE:  I buried the lead.  The author of this article stated that the Israeli Prime Minister is considering waiting till the next President to sign the military assistance deal.  Could this be the reason why the deal for the next batch of F-35's have been delayed?  They were counting on the Israeli order to help push down the price but it isn't coming so the meme that the price is dropping is falling short?  Interesting.  This also shows the backroom maneuvering that is going on with the program.  DESPICABLE!