Dr. Aaron Lerner – Take note of this important line in the item:
“Of course, some elements we may need to send to another place to fix. But
in most cases, we should we able to replace them from what’s on the shelf …
The important thing is that we will not send aircraft out of the country.”
Here’s the truth:
1. There are large key components of the F-35 that WE CANNOT TOUCH. We can
only pull them out of the jet and replace with the spare on the shelf.
2. We are going to have very few of these spare large key components.
3. The SLIGHTEST problem in such a component that under normal circumstances
might be addressed in a few minutes by an Israeli tech (replace a washer,
filets, etc.) mmeans getting thatmuch closer to exhausting the stock of
spare components.
4. If and when the day comes that someone in the White House wants to limit
our ability to continue an operation it would be child’s play for supply
delays to slash the number of combat ready jets.
5. In fact – even without malice, this set up can easily lead to a situation
that most of the jets are out of service during the course of a major
conflict that drains our resources.

F-35 Triggers Conceptual Overhaul in Israel Air Force
By: Barbara Opall-Rome, December 11, 2016
http://www.defensenews.com/articles/f-35-triggers-conceptual-overhaul-in-israel-air-force

TEL AVIV — Nearly a decade of planning preceded Monday’s scheduled delivery
of the first F-35Is to the Israel Air Force (IAF), but once they touch down
at the stealth fighter’s desert base at Nevatim, another process will just
begin, with vast implications on how Israel wields airpower near and very
far from home.

From the single network that will support the IAF’s ability to use the
fifth-generation Adir (Awesome/Magnificent) alongside fourth-generation
fighters to hunt and fight in packs to the means by which it trains and
maintains its combined force, the new F-35Is will be driving wholesale
changes throughout the mightiest air force in the Middle East.

“The IAF needs to adapt itself to this fifth-generation plane, and not vice
versa,” a general officer on the IAF Air Staff told Defense News.

“We need to look at all our existing concepts and to re-evaluate them as a
result of this capability. We’ll ask questions we never asked before,
because we’ve been used to training, operating and supporting according to
fourth-generation concepts.”

From “Day 1” of the Adir’s arrival, the general officer said the new
fighters will be co-located with an F-16I “escorting squadron” to allow the
service to determine all it needs for seamless integration of its frontline
fighter force.

“We need this quality team from Day 1 to live together, train together and
learn all they need to speak the same language,” the officer said.

“We’ve defined the team’s mission as escorting the Adir and leading the way
to joining fourth- and fifth-generation elements of our force,” he said.

“Of course, this F-16I squadron will have other missions. It’s not a
dedicated team in the purest sense, since we don’t have the luxury of a
stand-alone squadron. But their mission is clear: As smartly and as quickly
as possible, we need to create a truly integrated force of fourth- and
fifth-generation assets.”

As an example of “refusing to be locked into old concepts,” the officer
cited the distances at which IAF fighters currently fly in operational
formation; distances now determined by visual contact.

“We shouldn’t be using this plane in visual range. So it’s likely that we’ll
fly differently in the formation,” he said.

Composition of force packages will also change, since the F-35I’s stealth
capabilities should lessen the need in many combat scenarios for beefed up
support and special mission aircraft.

All that, he emphasizes, is predicated on Israel’s ability to integrate its
own communication system produced by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries
(IAI) and electronic warfare capabilities by Elbit’s Elisra in the new Adir
force.

“At this point, it’s still theoretical. The F-35s that arrive here are basic
aircraft. We need to integrate all these capabilities so have
self-sufficiency with communications and electronic warfare. This is crucial
for us to allow the networked connection with our four-generation force.

“Otherwise, if the F-35 is detached from the rest of our force, it has no
significance in terms of networked operations force-wide,” he added.

In terms of maintenance, the officer noted that the new F-35I comes with its
own simulator for technicians; something that the service may seek to
replicate for fourth-generation fighters.

“Before, when we thought about simulators, we thought about pilot training.
But now there is a simulator for technicians, and we may want this for our
fourth-generation aircraft,” he said.

And unlike other partner members of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program,
where depot-level maintenance will be performed at designed depots, Israel
has been working with the US government and Lockheed Martin to ensure that
no F-35I aircraft will ever leave the country.

“The intention is that the platform stays here. That’s obvious, due to our
clear and compelling need for self-sufficiency,” the general officer said.

“Of course, some elements we may need to send to another place to fix. But
in most cases, we should we able to replace them from what’s on the shelf …
The important thing is that we will not send aircraft out of the country.”

He noted that because the aircraft are new, depot-level maintenance should
not be relevant for years — perhaps more than a decade — to come, given the
manufacturers advertised lifespan of some 50 years. But once it becomes
relevant, Israel hopes to have put in place a process whereby depot-level
work will be done in-country.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, other top US officials and a cadre of
Lockheed Martin executives are expected to participate in Dec. 12 acceptance
ceremonies at the F-35I Adir’s home base at Nevatim.

In a Dec. 11 statement highlighting the “awesome/magnificent” meaning
attached to F-35I’s chosen name of Adir, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor
Liberman praised his Carter for contribution to Israeli security.

“It’s only symbolic that Carter’s tenure as Secretary of Defense is
concluding with the arrival of the Adir to Israel … because like the
aircraft, Carter’s contribution to the security of Israel was, indeed,
awesome.”

http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=71856

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR