RAMON AIR BASE, Israel, 20 February 2004 — The Israeli Air Force took delivery yesterday of the first two of more than 100 US-built F-16I jets, a new generation of warplane which will soon make up the backbone of Israel’s fleet.
Experts say the ultra-sophisticated development of the battle-tested F16 Fighting Falcon, to be named Sufa, sports a much-increased range of 1,500 km, allowing them to reach anywhere in the Middle East without needing in-flight refueling.
Media reports said this new capability could allow the Israeli Air Force (IAF) to hit targets in Iran, as it did in Iraq in June 1981 when it bombed the Osirak reactor near Baghdad.
Built by US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, the two planes left the contractor’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas late Wednesday and set down at the Ramon Air Base in the southern Negev desert yesterday after a stopover in Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands.
The two craft were being officially handed over at a ceremony at the base attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, army chief Moshe Yaalon and his IAF counterpart Dan Halutz.
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer was also present.
The procurement of 102 of the two-seater jets at an estimated cost of $4.5 billion is the biggest defense deal in Israel’s history.
For its part, Lockheed Martin is committed to $2.6 billion worth of reciprocal procurements, of which $1.1 billion has already been made.
Funding for the contract comes from US military aid to Israel which totals around $2 billion per year.
Israel placed its first order for 50 aircraft in 1999, with a second order made in 2001. Delivery is slated for completion by 2009.
With the 102 new Sufa jets, and another 230 Fighting Falcons, Israel will command the second largest F-16 fleet in the world behind the United States.
Although the IAF refuses to give details of the new jet’s range ability, it describes it as “very significant.”
West Bank Palestinian Deported
The Israeli Army deported a Palestinian from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip yesterday after two years of detention without trial in an Israeli prison.
Loai Salama, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said Israeli authorities had informed him on Wednesday night he was to be deported to Gaza for four years.
“It is unfair. It is a war crime and a violation of international humanitarian law,” he told reporters.
Israeli security sources said Salama had asked to be moved to Gaza in lieu of remaining in jail.
Israel has deported more than 20 Palestinians from the West Bank to Gaza in recent months, saying that to put them on trial would expose agents who provided information about them.
The Gaza Strip is fenced off from Israel, so the Jewish state sees less of a risk of attack from fighters there.
Salama, a resident of the village of Qaryot near Ramallah, said he had been arrested by an undercover Israeli unit during an army raid into Ramallah two years ago.
“They accused me of being a risk to Israel’s security,” he said. “That’s how they describe people they want to put in jail or deport.”
