Report: Israeli Testing Helped U.S. Remove F-35 Glitches

Israel’s testing and use of the new American-made jet fighter platform, the F-35, helped uncover and solve several glitches that otherwise would have been an obstacle to the deployment and sale of the system.

That’s according to an article by Israeli analyst Yoram Ettinger, who observed Wednesday at The Algemeiner that Israel’s F-35 testing underscored the importance of the close military and political alliance between the two countries.

Ettinger wrote:

A recent mega-billion-dollar increase in the export of Lockheed-Martin’s F-35 combat aircraft came about because the company was able to overcome a series of pivotal glitches. This was achieved by Lockheed-Martin, as well as by the Israeli Air Force and aerospace industries (especially the innovative Israel Aerospace Industries — IAI). This is why Israel is sometimes known as a cost-effective laboratory of the US defense and aerospace industries and armed forces.

In June 2016, Israel became the first country to use the highly-computerized F-35 operationally. Israel soon became successful in solving initial glitches, which had caused concern among prospective buyers.

…

The scores of Israeli solutions to the F-35 glitches — in the area of data gathering and processing, electronic warfare, and firing control accuracy – have been shared with the US manufacturer and the US Air Force, sustaining the F-35 superiority over its global competition; sparing Lockheed-Martin mega-billions of dollars in research and development; enhancing the manufacturer’s competitive edge; increasing exports by a few additional billions; and expanding the employment base of Lockheed-Martin and its multitude of subcontractors.

Aside from technical problems, the F-35, designed to take off vertically and for use across the branches of the armed forces, has been criticized for other flaws, such as procurement problems and the use of materials from China.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.