Israel receives about 55 percent of the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing budget, according to
Defense News. A new agreement currently being negotiated could see $40 billion go to support Israel’s military needs over the next 10 years—a number that
Israel currently thinks is inadequate, given how much technological advancement its regional adversaries, primarily Iran, have recently clocked.
From that perspective, what helps Israel helps the United States–and the F-35 will give Israel an overall airpower advantage that could last decades. But system security remains a key concern for the US. It helps that the key piece of software Israel is adding to the F-35I (its official designation) won’t affect the airplane’s own software. It’s a free-standing, add-on app for what’s known as C4 systems—command, control, communications and computing. The app draws data streams from the F-35’s own open-architecture operating system in order to provide additional functionality. According to Benni Cohen, a general manager at Israel Aerospace Industries, the state-owned military technology developer that’s creating the new app, it gives the air force an easy tool for adapting the F-35 to its own needs. “[Our] open-system architecture enables rapid software and hardware development cycles that will also provide more affordable modernization and support of systems over the platform’s life cycle,” Cohen said.
It will also allow easy integration with the current systems used by the Israeli Air Force, including those within the force’s existing F-16 and F-15 fighters, Cohen added. Variations of the same software slated for the F-35 already exist in those fighters imported from the United States. The F-35 will effectively “play nice” with the IAF’s current resources.
The other nations buying the F-35—the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, Norway, and Denmark—have spent years negotiating how much they’ll be allowed to tinker with the jet. None have had the success that Israel appears to be achieving. Beyond the app integration—which may actually inspire other program partners and customers to pursue similar tactics,
according to Aviation Week & Space Technology—Israel will likely also add its Spice 1000 precision missile system, among other possible weapons, along with so-called conformal fuel tanks, which mount above the wings and close to the fuselage, to the fighter. Though they could extend the fighter’s range by up to 40 percent, those tanks will likely compromise the jet’s stealth capability.
The US is working with Israel to ensure that all their proposed systems will work harmoniously with the F-35’s native systems, and that its proposed maintenance facility at Nevatim air base will be adequately secure. When the jets start arriving later this year, Israel intends to make then fully combat-ready within just 12 months.
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