Israel To Receive 3 F-35 Fighters

Israel will receive three addition F-35 stealth fighters from the United States on Sunday apart from two which arrived in December.

They are among 50 that Israel has agreed to buy from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Arutz Sheva reported Thursday.

US President Donald Trump had criticized Lockheed Martin's F-35 project over "out of control" costs of the plane. It was the most expensive in history. The company had assured that it will bring down the price in the future.

While other countries have ordered the planes, Israel, which receives more than $3 billion a year in US defense aid, said that it will be the first outside the United States with an operational F-35 squadron.

Israel is buying its first 33 F-35s at an average price of about $110 million (103.5 million euros) each. Israeli components will be integrated in the aircraft, which will be known as the F-35I.

Among its main features are advanced stealth capabilities to help pilots evade sophisticated missile systems. The single-pilot jets can carry an array of weapons and travel at a supersonic speed of Mach 1.6, or around 1,200 miles per hour (1,900 kilometers per hour).

The pilot's ultra-high-tech helmet, at a cost of some $400,000 each, includes its own operating system, with data that appears on the visor and is also shared elsewhere.

Thermal and night vision as well as 360-degree views are possible with cameras mounted on the plane. The two F-35s delivered in December landed around six hours late after being delayed by bad weather in Italy, believed to be fog.