Why Has the Flow of Parts from the US and the Netherlands Accelerated for Israeli F-35s? What Does Israel Want to Do?

Threat Data on F-35I Computer Updated by the US

In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, the United States accelerated software upgrades for the F-35 fighter jets in the Israeli Air Force inventory.

Lieutenant General Michael Schmidt, head of the F-35 Program Management Office, hinted that Israel had been given additional capabilities in the more than two months following the Hamas attack, but declined to tell reporters what they were.

In the aftermath of the Hamas attack, Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq in mid-October to warn both Tehran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not to support Hamas. 

Dutch government's decision to send supplies to Israeli F-35s goes to court

In the meantime, Tel Aviv has found it necessary to purchase a large amount of spare parts and components from the F-35 logistics center in the Netherlands to keep them on hand as war stocks in order to avoid problems in the maintenance and operation rates of its F-35 aircraft. The stockpiling of spare parts leads to the assessment that Israel may soon use the F-35I to attack targets in Syria and Iraq, possibly in addition to Gaza and Lebanon. Israel is even rumored to be willing to launch a strike on Iranian territory in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear capability, but Washington is not interested for the time being.

However, this purchase has caused a serious upheaval in Dutch politics. Some politicians in the Netherlands have expressed their disapproval of the Netherlands providing logistical support to Israeli warplanes, which have killed many civilians in their brutal aerial bombardment of Gaza. The situation in the Middle East has completely divided Dutch politics. While the conservative and right-wing parties almost unanimously support Israel and its right to self-defense, the progressive and left-wing parties express their disapproval of the Netherlands turning a blind eye to Israel's widespread human rights violations in the Gaza Strip and allowing the delivery of supplies for the F-35Is.

A number of human rights groups had also filed a complaint against the Dutch government for enabling war crimes to be committed in the besieged Gaza Strip and for participating in this crime by supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel. Yesterday, the court ruled that the human rights groups' claim was unfounded and that the government had done nothing wrong in shipping goods to Israel under Dutch law. 

The judges of the District Court in The Hague said that the Dutch government should be given wide latitude to weigh political and policy considerations when deciding on arms exports. Meanwhile, while the judges acknowledged that the F-35s were an accessory to possible war crimes, they ruled that the court only had a responsibility to answer the question of whether the government had made a reasonable assessment in deciding to export the weapons and that the government's action in the present case was not an area in which a judge could intervene.

Dutch law authorizes the government to halt exports or shipments of goods to Israel if they are contrary to Dutch foreign policy. In this context, the Netherlands decided not to allow the sale of military equipment to Israel 29 times between 2004 and 2020.

However, it was announced that the Dutch Government responded positively to Israel's last request and approved the shipment of spare parts. Accordingly, an Israeli transport plane took the designated F-35 spare parts from the European Regional Depot at Woensdrecht Air Base to Israel. The main reason given for the authorization was the undesirable situation that preventing the delivery would damage the Netherlands' ties with both Israel and the United States.

Israel Wants More F-35s

Interestingly, about a month before the war, Israel had requested 25 more F-35I fighter jets from Lockheed Martin through the F-35 Joint Program Office in the United States, in addition to the 50 F-35I fighter jets already under contract. With the additional F-35s, which are expected to be delivered in groups of two and three in the near future, it is aimed to increase the number of aircraft in Israel's F-35I fleet to 75. It is known that 39 F-35Is have been delivered to the Israeli Air Force so far. The total cost of the package of 25 additional aircraft to be purchased is said to be 3 billion USD. Moreover, it is stated that the US will provide the necessary financing as part of the US military aid package to Israel. If this is true, it means that the US is selling F-35s to Israel at dirt cheap prices. Considering that a total of 20 billion USD was demanded for the F-16 package of 40 planes and 79 kits, which were supposed to be sold to Turkey but have been dragging their feet for more than 2 years, one cannot help but be surprised.

Conclusion

Since the October 7 attacks, Israeli warplanes, including F-35Is, together with ground forces, have leveled large parts of Gaza. According to Palestinian health officials, nearly 19,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in these attacks. It is also known that thousands of people cannot be pulled out from under the rubble.

In this context, the United States, the biggest supporter of Israel, which has caused this great destruction and human carnage in Gaza, updated the mission data files on Israeli F-35I aircraft without delay, preventing any weakness in the defense of these aircraft against any air defense threat from the ground during bombing missions. The F-35 program office is proud to have delivered the latest mission data files to Israel within a week. The mission data files contain information on the threats that the F-35Is could face in a potential operation. 

According to the F-35 program office, the F-35 mission data files are still not updated as often as they should be. Israel requested that it be prioritized in updating the data files.  In response, Lockheed Martin successfully completed the necessary updates to the Israeli aircraft's threat banks, at the expense of all other F-35 user countries. In addition, the F-35 logistics warehouse in the Netherlands received a shipment of F-35 equipment needed by Israel. Dutch human rights groups felt that this shipment was wrong and went to court to stop it, but the Dutch court ruled that the government's decision was lawful.

References

Parth Satam, “Trouble For Israeli F-35s! Furore Erupts In NATO Nation Over Supply Of Stealth Jet’s Spare Parts To Tel Aviv”, Eurasiantimes, November 11, 2023, https://www.eurasiantimes.com/trouble-for-israeli-f-35-fighters-furore-erupts-in-nato-nation/

Stephen Losey, “US quickly updated Israeli F-35s after Hamas attack, officials say”, DefenseNews, 13 December 2023, https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/12/13/us-quickly-updated-israeli-f-35s-after-hamas-attack-officials-say/