Israel Promises Big JSF Buy: The Israel Air Force plans to replace its F-16s with more than 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the service’s chief procurement officer tells Israeli business journal Globes. Brig. Gen. Zeev Snir said Israel would be purchasing all three variants, with the first standard takeoff and landing models to come into service in the mid-2010s. According to Snir, the snit over not getting access to JSF computer data was no snit at all.
Fixing the Air Force’s chronic combat pilot shortage will require more aircraft in the fleet, more flying hours to squadron operations, and retaining more pilots within Reserve components, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.