TEL AVIV – About 30 Lockheed Martin specialists and three US Air Force representatives will remain in Israel indefinitely to help the Israel Air Force (IAF) operate and maintain its newest acquisition, the F-35I Adir.

The Lockheed Martin team, two USAF F-35 pilots and one USAF aircrew instructor are co-located at the IAF's Nevatim base in the Negev desert, home of the 140th Golden Eagles Squadron, which received its first pair of Adir (Awesome/Mighty) Dec. 12.

While USAF personnel are expected to return to home bases in about six months, many of the Lockheed Martin team will remain at Nevatim years after the service declares initial operational capability by the end of 2017, IAF and US sources said.

"We don't just say, 'Here's your planes, good luck. Hope all goes well,'" said Mike Rein, Lockheed Martin F-35 communications director.

"We're working very closely with them … Over time, as they go through the process and learn more about this fifth-generation fighter, they will get to a point where we will downsize our in-country representation. But even once they've reached that point, we won't go away. We're contracted to provide back-shop support for the long term," Rein told Defense News.

Rein noted that the highly computerized, sensor-fused, fifth-generation aircraft comes with a steep learning curve at the beginning of its operational life, given all the data that must be tracked before, during and following flight. Even after the IAF masters logistical and operational procedures, he said Lockheed Martin will be present to assist Israel and other F-35 partner and customer nations as new software updates come online.

IAF generals quoted in the latest edition of the service's in-house, Hebrew language journal cited unprecedented cooperation with — as well as dependence on — Lockheed Martin, developer and prime contractor for the F-35.

"We're much more dependent on the manufacturer who gives us an entire maintenance and logistics envelope … We'll have to learn to work with foreign experts who are here and are supporting us," Brig. Gen. Ran Bashvitz, head of the IAF Equipment Branch, told the service's Air Force Journal.

"We're talking about technological and engineering challenges that oblige us to understand that there is knowledge here that is unknown to us … It's a much more complex challenge than all other platforms that we've absorbed into our force in the past because its engineering is much more closed and much less open to changes," he said.

Two Israeli F-35 "Adirs" fly in formation and display the US and Israeli flags after receiving fuel from a Tennessee Air National Guard KC-135, Dec, 6, 2016.

Photo Credit: 1st Lt. Erik D. Anthony/US Air Force

In a special volume dedicated to receipt of the F-35 Adirs, Bashsvitz hailed the new aircraft as "trailblazers" and insisted the service has full confidence in the US Air Force, Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office for correcting various glitches discovered along the way.

"It takes time for an aircraft to mature. In all the systems and subsystems, we're seeing a learning process, experiments and sometimes mistakes in order to bring, at the end of the day, an entirely new operational capability. It's impossible to make a technological leap any other way; there's no magic," he said.

Another report in the same journal interviewed officers in Bashvitz' department who said the Lockheed personnel as well as USAF representatives would be essential in the coming six months.

"In the first half-year, there is a process of passing the baton here in Israel. Afterwards, the number of experts that are here will decline and only those permanent advisers will remain," one of the officers was quoted as saying.

The officer noted that the IAF is establishing at Tel Nof Air Base some 30 minutes south of Tel Aviv three F-35-specific maintenance capability units that will respectively specialize in structures, paint and composite materials. Such capabilities, the officer said, should come online by 2020.

As for pilot training, Brig. Gen. Tal Kalman, head of the IAF Air Staff, told the in-house magazine that due to the high fidelity of the Lockheed Martin flight simulators, the service expects to certify pilots with much less actual hours flown in the cockpit. According to Kalman, more time spent in simulators will drive down operational costs.

"While the cost of routine operations and maintenance of the Adir is higher than those of fourth-generation fighters, when viewed in totality, costs to operate an Adir squadron won't be significantly different than a fourth-generation squadron, largely due to much wider use of simulators," he said.

Kalman noted that with its F-15I and F-16I force, pilots spend about 10 percent of their time in simulators compared to 90 percent in the air. With the Adir, he said the ratio would be about 50:50.

In another report in the same in-house journal, another officer, a lieutenant colonel, said that by late December, the first two Adirs should enter normal flight rotations after an intense, two-week inspection period. He noted that all pilots and air crews had to polish what he called "Adirit," a "complicated, new language" based on all the English-language manuals, procedures and acronyms that come with the aircraft.

He cited a directive by IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel that the service adapt itself to the F-35 Adir, and not the other way around; something that represented a significant departure from Israel's receipt of previous aircraft.

"Over the years, the IAF developed its own systems and procedures, some of which were very advanced and uniquely suited to us like a glove on hand. But here, we must adapt ourselves to this American system," noted the officer, whose title was listed as head of Adir issues in the IAF aircraft department.

The officer added, "Also in the past, we worked alongside the Americans, often on a day-to-day basis. But here, the cooperation has reached new heights that is unprecedented."

Twitter: @opallrome 

About Barbara Opall-Rome

Opall-Rome is Israel bureau chief for Defense News. She has been covering U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation, Mideast security and missile defense since May 1988. She lives north of Tel Aviv. Visit her website at www.opall-rome.com.

Share:
More In Air Warfare