Israel to purchase 20 F-35 stealth fighters for $2.75 billion
16 August 2010
Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak has cleared a controversial proposal for the purchase of American F-35 stealth fighter jets, which will once again up the ante in this conflict-prone region as these fighters are designed to act as substantial force multipliers. Israel will now contract for 20 of these fighters at a cost of around $2.75 billion, with first deliveries expected to be made in 2015.
The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is manufactured by global aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin Corp. Lockheed is also the manufacturer of the world's only fully operational stealth fighter, the US Air Force's F-22 Raptor.
The Israeli option for the purchase of the F-35 Lightning II turned controversial as the Israelis, with a substantially advanced aerospace and defence industry of their own insisted on modifications being made to these aircraft allowing them to carry Israeli-designed sensors and armaments. The demand was turned down by American authorities who made it clear that such an option would not be made available to the Israelis.
After a considerable period of eyeballing it would now appear that some kind of a compromise would have been worked out between the two sides.
The Americans are desperate to increase the size of their potential customers in a bid to increase the number of units on order and in the process bring down per unit costs of the aircraft.
In recessionary times the Israeli Air Force will have to settle for a much smaller number of such aircraft than originally planned. It is not clear how many but it would be certainly much less than the 75 planned.
The entire deal will be funded by American military aid.
"The F-35 is the fighter plane of the future that will allow Israel to maintain its aerial superiority and its technological advantage in the region," Barak said. "The F-35 will give the IAF better capabilities, both near and far, to help strengthen Israel's national security."
It is being given to understand that Barak and defence ministry director-general Udi Shani may have wrangled a deal with the Americans two weeks ago under which Israel would start off by first buying a squadron of 20 F-35 jets from the first production series. These would be equipped with only a few Israel-made systems.
If the Israelis increase the size of their order then the Americans may be amenable for the installation of more Israeli-made systems.
A further sweetener would be an agreement under which main contractor Lockheed Martin would buy parts and systems worth $4 billion for the stealth fighter from Israeli companies.
Simple calculations indicate that the first lot of 20 fighters may cost the Israelis about $96 million apiece excluding costs of training, simulators, spare parts and construction of maintenance infrastructure.
Stealth aircraft are designed to dodge radar defences and allow pre-emptive strikes against enemy formations equipped with advanced air defence systems.
Such capabilities make theses fighters formidable force multipliers.
http://www.domain-b.com/aero/mil_avi/mil_aircraft/20100816_stealth_fighters.html
