Strategic Assessment

Israel’s announcement that it intends to purchase the F-35 Lightning-II fighter plane has aroused much controversy in Israel, particularly given the cost of each aircraft. The critical question, then, is what the new planes will contribute to IAF capability that cannot be obtained without this purchase. The article describes Israel’s role in the Joint Strike Fighter project and raises questions of price vs. performance, the plane’s ability to cope with future threats, possible alternative systems, the benefit to local industry, and the salient points in the decision making process regarding the purchase. Technical data about the plane and the disputes that the project has sparked in other countries appear in an appendix to this article.