Disagreements between the Israeli Defense Ministry and the Pentagon about access to computers continue to stall Israel’s order of 75 new F-35 stealth fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Access to the F-35’s computer remains at the heart of the controversy, with the U.S. denying Israeli forces the right to make repairs to the system. 

 Last year, the Pentagon approved Israel’s request to purchase the F-35s in a deal worth nearly $20 billion. Of that amount, almost $11.5 billion will come from U.S. taxpayers through the Foreign Military Financing Program (FMF). 

 

U.S. officials are reluctant to allow Israeli access to the plane’s internal computer mainframe for fear that the Israeli Air Force will obtain classified information used to build the plane. Israeli forces counter that they need access to the plane’s inner-workings in order to make repairs. They maintain that it would inefficient to ship damaged computer systems to the US for repair during wartime. Although U.S. officials have assured Israelis that they would receive spare computer systems to replace those that need repair, a compromise has yet to be reached.

 

The disagreement, coupled with the U.S. reluctance to allow integration of Israeli systems into the plane and its expensive overall price tag, have led the Israelis to explore alternatives. The Defense Ministry has shown interest in purchasing Boeing’s new F-15 Eagle or updating older F-15s with stealth capability, both of which are cheaper options.

-Adrine Akopyan

 

US Denies Israel Access to F-35 Computer (by Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post)

Israeli Negotiations for F-35 Bogging Down Over Costs, Technology Concerns (Defence Professionals) 

Israel (AllGov)