Israel Wants JSF As Soon As Possible, But Has Problems With Aircraft

Unlike Japan, Israel has come to the conclusion that there will be no F-22 sales, so they want JSF deliveries as soon as possible (paid subscription reqired, preferably starting in 2012, because they want to add stealth as soon as possible.

There are, however, some road bumps on the way:

• Lockheed-Martin is saying that there can be no foreign deliveries until 2014.
• There are no Israeli weapons qualified for use on the aircraft, and it's closed, tightly integrated architecture will make qualifying those weapons (Python 5 AAM and successors, Spice PGM) extremely difficult.
• The IAF does not believe that it can perform its missions as a single seat aircraft.
• As an aside, the USAF has been trying to get rid of the weapons system operator (guy in back) for years, probably to free up a few more planes for the fly-boys.
• Integration of Israeli radar and EW systems could "difficult and expensive".

These issues mirror many of the UK's issue with the aircraft, where, as it currently stands, the RAF and the RNAF will not be able to maintain the aircraft fully, and in some cases aircraft would have to be sent back to the States for maintenance or upgrade.