Home » Air » Israel, U.S. Close on F-35 Deal

Israel, U.S. Close on F-35 Deal

By Colin Clark Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 8:58 am
Posted in Air, International, Policy

Israel, in what would be a huge vote of confidence for the Joint Strike fighter program at a time when many allies’ support for the program is wavering, is within days of clinching a deal to buy the plane.

My colleague Andrea Shalal-Esa of Reuters broke the news and here’s the nub of her story:

The United States and Israel are days away from reaching an agreement on the sale of 19 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter jets, which would be the first foreign military sale of the new warplane.

“The ball is in their court,” Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa, who heads the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, told Reuters at the Farnborough Airshow.

This comes after Lockheed, increasingly worried about international support for the aircraft as countries across Europe perform in-depth defense spending reviews, sent a strong message yesterday that partners must, “keep to the program of record,” as F-35 executive vice president Tom Burbage said. That will keep prices down, he noted.

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	Thud105 July 20th, 2010 at 3:20 pm Keep the costs down?! This bloated pig of a program has already more than doubled and the damned thing isn’t even in full production yet! If this goes through, Israel will be providing some fast food to an obese program that needs to be a lot more lean! Am I the only one out there who’s concerned that we’re putting way too many hopes and expectations on this one, single airframe?
	Drake1 July 20th, 2010 at 3:24 pm Big surprise (sarcasm). Even with all the public posturing and finagling, it wasn’t like they weren’t going to buy it. Iran and all the myriad weapon applications they can glean from this plane made it a must buy.
	Taxpayer July 20th, 2010 at 3:28 pm Stealthiness is what the Israeli’s need. With only 187 F-22s, that’s not an option. But with 3,000 potential U.S. and allied orders in the pipeline, the F-35 is their best option.
	Benjamin July 20th, 2010 at 3:41 pm What model? I think Israel has reasons to possess the F-35A and F-35B
	Aurora July 20th, 2010 at 3:46 pm This news will cause airpower australia, center for defense information, and a couple of aviation bloggers to choke on their own bile!
	Charley July 20th, 2010 at 4:16 pm Interesting development. The Israelis were downplaying the role of stealth in their battlespace, and that seems to be reflected in the relatively low buy of 19 airframes — seems to me that these aircraft will be used in “special” missions.… A gripe of the Israelis is the closed nature of the avionics technology used in the F-35 — they wanted a more open (to them) architecture that their aerospace industry could exploit.
	aeroxavier July 20th, 2010 at 4:34 pm 3000? no 2000 max if anything was clear for the next step
	Oblat July 20th, 2010 at 8:10 pm Israelis agree to buy a token number of JSF with American money. Sounds like damning with faint praise to me.
	William C. July 20th, 2010 at 9:47 pm Your going to get at least 2000 from all of the US orders.
	@E_L_P July 20th, 2010 at 10:00 pm How can Israeli defense afford to cut defense spending by $700M? Easy. They have more revenue streams than most nations defense forces. The U.S. taxpayer is close to signing up for an F-35 purchase; not the one for the low rate initial production (LRIP) 4–although that may happen soon. No, I am talking about the generosity of the U.S. taxpayer. Israel receives around $3B in U.S. taxpayer aid every year for security purposes. This is a nice figure as there is a proposed deal announced that could see the U.S. taxpayer buying 19 F-35s for the Israelis at a cost of; $3B. The sale that isn’t. Money laundering. And it is all legal.
	@E_L_P July 20th, 2010 at 10:00 pm Interesting theory.
	William C. July 20th, 2010 at 11:27 pm Call it lunacy but I think Lockheed can build the thing at a realistic ($60-$70 mil) price tag, there are some smart people there.
	Shelley July 21st, 2010 at 2:39 am I have to say E_L_P..you are right on the mark.
	seesthrubs July 21st, 2010 at 4:11 am What I find farcical is that this potential sale of a mere 19 aircraft may be touted as a barometer of the health of the program and the success/justification of the aircraft. 19 aircraft of a supposed 3000+ total is what, .6%. The word desperate and the term ‘clutching at straws’ comes to mind.
	Jacob July 21st, 2010 at 5:37 am Can the F-35 even reach Iran? I hear it has an even shorter range than the F-16 and F-15.
	William C. July 21st, 2010 at 5:57 am I am a pretty big supporter of Israel, but that said there is no reason we should still be giving them monetary aid. Their own defense industry is pretty productive these days, and they can certainly afford to buy what they get from us without our money.
	William C. July 21st, 2010 at 6:01 am The range of the F-35 on internal fuel should be comparable to the latest F-16E/F with conformal fuel tanks and and one or two external drop tanks. The F-15I with conformal fuel tanks probably has the range advantage however.
	AJMBLAZER July 21st, 2010 at 1:30 pm 19 will be the initial order. They’ll receive them and then test and figure things out and more will come. The same happened with the F-16, F-15, F-4, A-4, etc.
	AJMBLAZER July 21st, 2010 at 1:35 pm Oh, and everyone always brings up the aid we give them but no one ever mentions all the Israeli developed weaponry that we now use (lots of guided munitions), defacto weapons testing they did, and upgrades to our equipment that came about because of them using/improving stuff we sold them. It doesn’t only go one way.
	SilverLady July 21st, 2010 at 3:06 pm It is beyond my comprehension as to why the U.S. taxpayer sends a nickel to Israel. The Jews of Israel are not the Jews of the Bible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujoc1DYjuPE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q7yEnMjQ6U&fe... What do you think?
	aeroxavier July 21st, 2010 at 5:38 pm don’t forget one things, USA give all years 3bn $ for israel defense. if for one year they take 2 for boost f-35 prod and give the impression of the program (“see, other country buy it..”), that give good things to all partners who was suspicious or cut the command or make one “wait and see”. that’s big shit USA buy 19 plane and give them to israel, nothing more. That’s one propaganda for the f-35, what else? seriously?
	Les Le Gear July 21st, 2010 at 9:49 pm I believe about 75% of the annual US aid to Israel is spent on purchases of US arms. Wouldn’t that include this new plane? IMO the money comes back to US companies and their employees.
	Gremlin_61 July 22nd, 2010 at 8:21 am So let me see if I got this right… Isreal buys the planes with at least some US Aid Money. They test, modify and (knowing Isreali technical expertise) improve a jet with massive budget & production problems; Sell the patents on the mod’s back to the US so they can buy more US made weapons with US dollars? Interesting.… Anyone wanna loan me a couple billion so I can get started too?
	highlanderjuan July 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 am It would seem that the message is now out to Iran, and to their other Middle Eastern enemies, that Israel isn’t screwing around when it comes to their own (Israeli) defense. It would also seem the round trip flight distance problem will be quickly solved so that the Iranian nuclear targets are more easily attainable by Israel. Or maybe I should have said ‘accessible.’
	highlanderjuan July 22nd, 2010 at 2:05 pm Let’s do a comparison of Israel, with all of its defenses (now including the F-35), and of the United States which chooses to leave its borders wide open and vulnerable to enemy and criminal encroachment and invasion. So, which country would you bet will last the longest?
	GLADE8OR July 22nd, 2010 at 6:04 pm You cannot lump all Jews together no more than you can lump all Americans together. You need to look into God’s word (The Bible you reference) a little deeper and read about what happens to those who come against Israel versus those who “Bless” Israel (check out “Genesis 12:1–3 & Zechariah 12:1–5″). If one looks at just some recent events in America, a lot of bad things have happened on the heals of our lack of support of Israel on various fronts (Happenstance…maybe?!). Or how about the disrespect to Israel’s Leaders (like the recent meeting in March at the White House with President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). Obama will ‘clearly’ bow to a Saudi King, but disrespect the Israeli Prime Minister as he did. Give me a break! Also, don’t forget the End of the Book and know that Israel will prevail! This is the answer to “highlanderjuan’s” question (rhetorical as it is) as to which country would you bet will last the longest?
	GLADE8OR July 22nd, 2010 at 6:08 pm Also on the topic of conspiracy theories…I suppose some of you out there think landing on the Moon was also a lie, hoax & conspiracy (see a recent episode of “Myth Busters” for your answers to that). People need to get over this paranoid conspiracy theory mentality. Also keep in mind that we (the USA) have had our fair share of Friendly Fire/Accidental incidences.
	GLADE8OR July 23rd, 2010 at 9:30 pm Nice rhetorical question highlanderjuan! I only hope the USA remains a strong ally/supporter to Israel and does not turn our back on them. For support of that position see what happens to those who come against Israel (check out “Genesis 12:1–3 & Zechariah 12:1–5″) & at the end of “The Book”…Israel will prevail. The “current: Administration has not shown much in the area of respect to Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
	Guest July 24th, 2010 at 3:22 pm I’m with you, brother. It’s just that the prez has crapped on Israel so much as of late, I was a little excited that we were willing to sell them anything.
	Silver Lady July 25th, 2010 at 11:34 pm Did you watch either of the two movies? I bet not. Please do. Israel relentlessly attacked the US Liberty in 1967 at the beginning of the 6 day War. They killed 34 American military and wounded another 174. After that they killed thousands & thousands of Egyptians, Syrians, Jordanians etc. in order to conquer their land. Land that the U.N. gave them in 1948, without any authority to do so. (Res. 181) You should roam around in the official site for the USS Liberty Memorial: http://www.gtr5.com/ They have committed many crimes, get away with all of them, and the U.S. just keeps sending them more money. Research exactly where “Israel” was in the bible, not where it is now. The jews of the current Israel are 90% Ashkenazi jews of eastern European dissent. Read “The Synagogue of Satan”, these jews do not think Jesus was the Messiah. Research Mossad assassinations/terrorism historically. Why the U.S. keeps giving them our taxdollars is beyond me. Obama bows to a Saudi king because he is a Muslim. Watch this movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCAffMSWSzY
	GLADE8OR August 4th, 2010 at 1:47 am Greetings Silver Lady, I did watch them both. A couple of points I do agree with you…Obama is a Muslim! No doubt about it. Additionally, and he is not a legal American! He is by far the worst thing that has ever happened to this Country. God help us! You are also right, the majority of Israel are not the Jews of the Bible…but then again if you think about it, even the Jews of the Bible Times had major issues despite God continually having mercy upon them, giving them 2nd, 3rd, etc chances. How soon did they forgot about God’s miraculous delivery of them from Egypt and how quickly they turned back to Idolatry and forgetting God (just one example). In the end many Jews will be “saved” but even more will perish having rejected Christ. I know some Messianic Jews and they know the same in Israel. I just know what it says in the Bible about those that come against Israel vs those who bless them. Not my words…God’s Words. When you think about it we can really question a lot of the things that we throw our hard earned US tax dollars at…right? Thank-you for the info…as I have time I will be sure to look into it.