Israel’s Defense Ministry has officially signed a deal with the US to receive 25 additional F-35 fighter jets, the Times of Israel reported on 4 June.
The ministry says a delegation to the US signed a letter of agreement recently for the $3 billion deal that will be financed by US military aid to Israel.
The agreement will add a third squadron to the Israeli Air Force’s fleet of Lockheed Martin-built planes.
The ministry says the planes will begin to be delivered starting in 2028, in batches of three to five per year, bringing the total of Israel’s F-35 fleet to 75 in the coming years. Only 36 of Israel’s original order of 50 F-35s have been delivered so far, the Times of Israel noted.
The signing follows a mostly resolved row over the procurement between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich. Smotrich had vetoed the signing until a Knesset committee tasked with reviewing the defense budget was convened.
Despite public disagreements between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden over Israel’s prosecution of the war on Gaza, the White House and State Department have been consistent in their efforts to supply weapons to Israel.
Since 7 October, Israel has killed over 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 14,000 children, mainly with US-supplied weapons.
The American Friends Service Committee notes that between October and the beginning of March, the US approved more than 100 military sales to Israel but publicly disclosed only two sales.
Much of these weapons were purchased using US taxpayer money through the Foreign Military Sales program, while some were direct commercial sales paid for by Israel’s defense budget. An undisclosed amount of weapons was also transferred from US military stockpiles already stored in Israel.
Supplying arms to Israel and Ukraine has been profitable for US weapons manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics, and RTX (formerly known as Raytheon).