The Israeli air force could purchase additional Boeing F-15 or Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters if Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme suffers further delays, writes Arie Egozi.
Israel has for some time planned to acquire the JSF as its next fighter, but delays to the project and domestic budget problems that have undermined plans to upgrade its older F-16s have caused a rethink, says Brig Gen Zeev Snir, head of the air force materiel directorate.
“At some point we will have to make a decision about a possible interim deal that will keep us in the desired shape until the JSF is ready,” he says.
Deliveries of Israel’s 102F-16Is continue and a follow-on F-15I purchase remains a possibility.
Source: Flight International
