Two more F-35 stealth fighter jets landed in southern Israel Sunday, the army said, expanding Israel’s fleet of the state-of-the-art aircraft to over a dozen.
The F-35 planes, known in Israel by their Hebrew name, the “Adir,” meaning mighty or great, landed in the Israeli Air Force’s Nevatim base, southeast of Beersheba, where they will join the Golden Eagle Squadron, Times of Israel reported.
The planes took off from the United States last week, but were slightly delayed in arriving in Israel, apparently due to bad weather.
The Israeli Air Force has acknowledged receiving at least 12 F-35 fighter jets from the US-based Lockheed Martin defense contractor, where the country began receiving the jets from the US in December 2016. The aircraft were declared operational approximately a year later.
Israel has, for now, agreed to purchase 50 F-35 fighters in total from the US, which are scheduled to be delivered in installments of twos and threes by 2024.
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