F35?

[eric]

Is there an update on the F35 issue from Israel point of view?
Israeli involvement in the project? Acquisition plans? Schedule?
Tx
Eric

[shelory]

what i read about it is that israel will get about 100+ f-35's but they are expected only to start to arrive at 2014 (3 years after the US and england). i would guess that the problem with fitting israel tec onto the plains was resolved as that was the thing that would prevent israel from getting the fighter. from what my latest source israel would be getting the VTOL version they say that the reason israel is getting that version is because israel expects that the first target in an all out war will be Israel's air-force\airstrips, but the draw back in that version is that it has a substantially smaller payload (fuel and ammo), witch i think is a big draw back that makes me doubt that source cos i dont think israel would give up all that payload as i know they would like the extra fuel and the ammo is a big plus. sorry i couldn't fined the source but i think is was ether ynet or a news paper here in israel, if i fined it ill scan it in.