FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST- March 7, 2010 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest." Isaiah 62.
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THE MACCABEAN ONLINE: URL:http://www.freeman.org/online.htm Freeman Center Blog http://www.freeman.org/serendipity/ ============= ==================== They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth. - Plato "The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see." -- Ayn Rand ########## Ignorance Is Weakness - Know The Truth
Self-Inflicted Ignorance Is Suicide
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P.O. Box 35661 * Houston, Texas 77235-5661
Phone or Fax: 713-723-6016 * E-mail: bernards@sbcglobal.net
THE MACCABEAN ONLINE: URL:http://www.freeman.org/online.htm
Self-Inflicted Ignorance Is Suicide
The Freeman Center Is A Defense Against Ignorance
Israel to postpone F-35 stealth jet deal
By YAAKOV KATZ08/03/2010 02:20
One top IDF officer told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the Defense Ministry was unlikely to sign a letter of agreement (LOA) with the Pentagon before the end of 2010.
“Everything now appears to be pushed off by at least a year,” the senior officer said.
On Sunday night, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi flew to Washington for talks with top Pentagon officials. Ashkenazi plans to speak with his American counterpart, Adm. Michael Mullen, and other Pentagon officials about the delays in the production of the JSF and how it will affect the IDF.
Last week, US Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said that the service’s plan to use the F-35 will probably be delayed by two years and cost significantly more than the $130 million initially expected.
Donley said that the F-35 would not be ready for the US Air Force until 2015, the date that Israel had initially wanted to begin receiving the stealth jet. The jet had been scheduled to become initially operational in 2013 before the Pentagon uncovered serious problems with the contract. Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that at least one senior manager would be fired and $614 million in performance bonuses would be withheld from lead contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation.
“If the Americans are only getting the plane in 2015, then it is difficult to imagine that we will receive it the same time,” the officer said, adding that the Air Force was currently in talks with the Pentagon about locking down a delivery date.
News of the delays in the F-35 program came as Israel and the US moved closer to finalizing details of the deal, long held up by disagreements over the integration of Israeli indigenous technology into the aircraft. The IAF plans to phase out old-model F-16s after it receives the F-35.
“There is some thought in this direction,” a top IAF source said recently. “Based on the development requirements, the F-35 is supposed to be a more advanced plane primarily since it is stealth, but delays in the production have led to new thinking within the IAF."