Tel Aviv: The arrival of three new F-35s on September 26 at the Nevatim Israeli Air Force (IAF) in Southern Israel, brought the total number of F-35 (Adir) operated by the IAF to 30. The signed contract is for 50 F-35.
According to Lockheed Martin as of early September, 690 F-35s worldwide have accumulated 430,000 flight hours.
The Israeli Air Force’s F-35 test aircraft is flying daily with Israeli developed systems. Some have been approved and already installed on some of the operational F-35 used by the IAF, while others that require changes in the aircraft fuselage will be installed only in the F-35 ‘s that will be supplied to Israel in the coming years.
Recent use of the IAF’s F-35 in combat, in different arenas are behind the growing list of systems the Israelis want to put on the stealth fighter.
One of the advantages of the F-35 is its capability to absorb electronic signals from radars and air defence systems and to quickly classify them, geolocate them, and display them to the aircraft’s pilot. The stealth aircraft then is capable of distributing the electronic data to other combat participants. The critical data is collected by the aircraft’s passive antennas embedded in the F-35’s that feed signals information to the fighter aircraft computers. Using interferometry the Israeli F-35 will compute the slightest time delay between when a signal hits one antenna compared to another, to locate target with high accuracy. The details of this dedicated Israeli systems are classified.
The very advanced ELINT system of the F-35 is going to be further upgraded by the IAF with the help of some of the defence industries and the accumulated operational experience of the IAF.
The IAF has made it clear that all levels of the F-35 maintenance will be performed in Israel. Some F-35 operators have agreed to perform the heavy maintenance in US controlled centres.
The test aircraft enables the IAF’s flight test centre to enhance the capabilities of the F-35 (Adir) in air-air and air-ground missions using the highly classified systems developed for this purpose in Israel. This is in addition to function as the main “target generator” for ground and naval forces .
Some of the Israeli defence industries have been busy adapting operational systems for use on the F-35. These include electronic systems and weapon systems that fit the operational requirement of the IAF.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
