Operational lessons from the ongoing war will be reflected in special systems to be installed in the new squadron of F-35 jets to be delivered to the Israeli Arforce (IAF).
A third squadron of F-35 (Adir) stealth aircraft will be purchased, according to an approval given by the Israeli ministerial committee for defence procurement last week. The new contract is worth about US$3 billion and will be funded by the U.S Foreign Military Funds (FMF) that the country gets from the U.S.
Contracts for the procurement of 50 aircraft and two F-35 squadrons have been inked between the U.S. and Israel . Of these, 39 have been delivered. According to the official schedule, all 50 aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2025.
Changes have been made locally in all the F-35 already delivered to the IAF. The local changes made by the IAF in its F-35's are the main reason for the decision to perform heavy maintenance in Israel and not send the stealth aircraft to an European maintenance center. The changes made are aimed at enhancing the stealth fighter's capabilities when and if Israel attacks nuclear sites in Iran.
The use of the F-35 against armed UAVs is not new .The first such intercept was in 2021. The intercept was, according to the IAF, "far from Israeli airspace". Since the war broke out on Oct. 7, the use of the stealth fighter to intercept armed UAVs and cruise missiles launched from long ranges, mainly from Iran, have become more common.
The IAF is using a special F-35 test aircraft to design the local changes. Major General (ret.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu, former commander of the IAF, said that the decision to purchase an additional squadron of F-35 is the right one as the F-35 is a very versatile combat aircraft. " It has the stealth capability that allows it to enter areas in enemy territory that are used to launch different weapon systems to hit Israel. The special communication systems installed in the IAF F-35 allow the pilots to communicate directly with all other forces in the area, in the air on the ground and at sea. This system gives the pilot a full real time picture of threats including armed UAV's launched from big distances," he added.
Accoording to Ben Eliyahu, the communication systems of F-35 currently operated by the IAF enable the Israeli pilots to coordinate different missions like intercepting swarms of armed UAV's. The capability of the service's F-35 pilots to communicate with all forces in a wide area is based on a dedicated system developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) that is based on the company's "tactical C4 architecture." It uses the latest Software Defined Radios (SDR) and generic communications infrastructure. This system is now being upgraded to facilitate joint operations against swarms of armed UAVs.
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