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Israelis To Boost F-35 Fleet’s Electronic Warfare « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary
By ARIE EGOZI
on June 15, 2020 at 1:02 PM
TEL AVIV: The Israeli air force’s F-35 special test aircraft is set to arrive in Israel, suitably enough, on the Fourth of July, along with three more Joint Strike Fighters. The arrival will start a planned process of upgrading the IAF’s F-35 aimed at making them the main target supplier for the Israeli defense forces.
In November another three are scheduled to arrive, bringing the IAF’s total to 27 out of the 50 in the current contract.
The special test aircraft was officially delivered to the IAF a year ago and some new systems developed by Israel have been installed. But the most sensitive systems will be installed only after the aircraft lands in Israel.
Currently, the IAF operates 20 F-35 (Adir) and uses them in combat. One of the key capabilities of the F-35 is its capability to absorb electronic signals from radars and air defense systems and to quickly classify them, geolocate them, and display them to the pilot. Then the aircraft can distribute that data to other combatants.
The critical data is collected by the aircraft’s passive antennas embedded in the F-35’s edges. They feed the signals information to the jet’s computers. Using interferometers, the slightest time delay between when a signal hits one antenna compared to another, azimuth and range can be defined and target-quality coordinates created on where the threatening radio frequency emission is coming from.
The already very advanced ELINT system of the F-35 is going to be further upgraded by the IAF, working with Israel’s defense companies.
Since the stealth fighter aircraft first arrived in Israel, some locally-made systems have been partially tested in different scenarios, but the test aircraft will allow these new systems to be put completely through their paces.
The test aircraft will enable each of the Israeli F-35s to function as a “Target Generator” for all Israeli ground and naval forces thanks to what some have described as an Israeli-built command-and-control system.
The Israeli companies that are developing systems for the IAF’s F-35’s are reluctant to provide details about the systems under development.
Eitan Ben Eliyahu, former commander of the IAF, told Breaking Defense that the F-35 will bring two main capabilities to the Israeli air force’s existing ones: “The stealth of course is the obvious one and it is crucial in an area where different forces deploy advanced anti-aircraft systems.
“The second capability is the one that allows this aircraft to receive and distribute all kinds of combat data from a long list of sensors. This,” Ben Eliyahu said, “is very important for an air force that is performing combat missions almost on a daily basis.”
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