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| US Bans Israeli Pilots With Foreign Passports From Flying F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets |
Washington - The United States Department of Defense (US) and Washington intelligence agencies do not allow Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilots with foreign passports (excluding American passports) to fly the F-35 stealth fighter jet. The main reason is because America is afraid that the secret technology of this advanced fifth-generation aircraft will be leaked to third countries.
The ban from the US was revealed by the Maariv newspaper in its report on Friday (6/1/2023). The US move is part of efforts to tighten information security and protect American interests.
The IAF reportedly accepted the American request and prevented its pilots with dual (other than American) citizenship from training on the F-35—the plane being renamed "Adir". The F-35 is a family of single-engine, supersonic, stealth technology, fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft.
The United States Air Force (USAF) considers the F-35 as the primary combat aircraft to carry out missions to penetrate enemy air defenses, due to its advanced sensors and mission systems. It has a top speed of Mach 1.6 and a range of more than 1,400 miles without refueling.
The initial deal for Israel's purchase of F-35s from the US covered a total of 50 aircraft, with Israel considering adding another 25 in the future. In total, Israel will have three operational F-35 squadrons within a decade. But US concern about intelligence leaks from the IDF is not limited to fifth-generation aircraft.
According to the Maariv report, American administration officials contacted Israeli security forces to express their concern that the IDF was buying electric cars made in China for IDF officers. Americans fear sensitive information from cell phones used by officers driving Chinese cars, featuring advanced multimedia systems, will be flagged and stored in China's cloud by Beijing intelligence. A compromise was reached for that one, where information would be transferred from the car's system to the secure Israeli cloud.