Israel has decided to increase its acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighters by 25 aircraft, which will bring its fleet to 44 of the fifth-generation type.
The country’s second contract, which is not yet finalised, was approved in principle when Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon recently met with his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in Washington DC.
Israel has already purchased 19 of the aircraft, at a cost of $2.75 billion. The first two F-35s are due to arrive in Israel by early 2017 and the rest should be delivered by 2018. The Israeli air force (IAF) plans to base the aircraft at Nevatim airbase in the southern region of the country.
The F-35's wings will be built in Israel by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan, the Pentagon’s F-35 programme chief, plans to visit Israel next week for the official inauguration of the wing production line. IAI will begin delivery of F-35 wings to Lockheed Martin in mid-2015.
The decade-long contract for F-35 wing production is part of Lockheed’s plan to share manufacturing cost and responsibility among its partner nations, although Israel is technically a foreign military sales customer under US law. The contract is worth up to $2.5 billion.
IAI has invested substantially in the advanced systems and technologies required to produce the wings since signing the contract in April 2013 and has established a dedicated production line to carry out the work.
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