ISRAEL ORDERS U.S. STEALTH PLANES TO COUNTER IRAN, SYRIA THREAT
RIA Novosti
July 10, 2009
MOSCOW, July 10 (RIA Novosti) – Israel has ordered at least 25
U.S. F-35 stealth fighter aircraft to counter any potential threat
from the delivery of Russian advanced air defense systems to Iran
and Syria, an Israeli daily said on Friday.
Tel Aviv earlier said that the purchase of F-35 fighters would
effectively eliminate the threat from Russian-made S-300 air
defense systems because a series of computer simulations had clearly
demonstrated that new U.S. stealth fighters outperform the Russian
missiles.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), manufactured by Lockheed Martin,
"will be one of the most-advanced fighter jets in the world and will
enable Israel to phase out some of its older F-15 and F-16 models,"
the Jerusalem Post said.
The paper said an official Letter of Request (LOR) to the Pentagon was
sent this week, but talks on a final price for the plane, estimated
at over $100 million, and technical details of the deal would continue.
"Israeli demands have focused on three issues – the integration of
Israeli-made electronic warfare systems into the plane, the integration
of Israeli communication systems and the ability to independently
maintain the plane in the event of a technical or structural problem,"
it said.
The contract is expected to be signed in early 2010 followed by the
delivery of the first F-35 fighters to Israel in 2014.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Air Force plans to
purchase an additional 50 aircraft in the future, some of them with
vertical take-off and landing capabilities.
Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its efforts to prevent deliveries
of Russian S-300 air defense systems to Iran under a 2007 contract.
Israel and the U.S. insist that the delivery of advanced air defense
systems to Iran would undermine the military balance in the region,
and Russia has until recently delayed the implementation of the deal.
Although Russian sources said in March that Iran had not yet received
any S-300 air defense systems a l from the Russian leadership, Moscow
has reiterated its commitment to fulfill the contract, which is worth
hundreds of millions of dollars.
The latest version of the S-300 family is the S-300PMU2 Favorit,
which has a range of up to 195 kilometers (about 120 miles) and can
intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 10 meters
to 27 kilometers.
It is considered one of the world’s most effective all-altitude
regional air defense systems, comparable in performance to the
U.S. MIM-104 Patriot system.