According to a senior Israeli defence official’s statement to Israeli Haaretz, officials are concerned about a deal to provide F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey and the issue is currently being discussed with the United States.
It’s been stated that Israel would like to remain the only country in the Middle East with the F-35 in order to keep its military qualitative edge and out of fear that details about its capabilities would leak to neighboring countries. Israel Air Force is scheduled to receive the software that will improve the plane’s performance in July and Israel wants planes to be provided to Turkey without the software.
It will be very difficult to cancel the deal, because Turkey was one of the countries that invested in the plane’s development. Turkey, a key US ally in the Middle East, is slated to purchase more than 100 of the ultra-high tech aircraft.