Photo: IAF
By Dov BeovadiaWednesday, December 6, 2017 at 5:09 am | י"ח כסלו תשע"ח
YERUSHALAYIM - The Israel Air Force announced a “new era”
in the country’s defenses Wednesday, as the first of Israel’s F-35 planes were
declared field-ready. The IAF has been testing the planes for over a year, and
in a statement, the Air Force said that it would begin deploying the planes.
Israel’s F-35, called Adir, will be a significant
addition to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East
region with its advanced capability to defeat emerging threats, including
advanced missiles and heavily defended airspace, said manufacturer
Lockheed-Martin. The F-35 combines advanced low-observable stealth technology
with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled
operations and advanced sustainment support, according to the firm.
Israel has ordered 50 of the planes, five of which have
been delivered to Israel already. The rest will be delivered in batches through
the end of 2024, the IAF said. Israel, the Air Force said, is the first country
besides the U.S. to begin using the aircraft in military operations.
“Israel is proud to be the first country in the area to
receive and operate it,” said Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. “The F-35 is
the best aircraft in the world and the choice of all our military leadership at
its highest level. It is clear and obvious to us and to the entire region that
the new F-35, the Adir, will create real deterrence and enhance our
technological capabilities for a long time.” In a message to IAF staff, Israel
Air Force commander General Amikam Nurkin said that the inclusion of the planes
in the IAF’s fleet “gives us the ability to act in more areas in a changing
Middle East. The operational challenges of the IAF become more challenging
every day, and with the Adir we have a new, reliable, quality tool to meet
those challenges.”
Original post: hamodia.com
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