The commander of the Air Force, Major General Amikam Nurkin, spoke this evening (Wednesday) at a year-end event of the Friends of the Weizmann Institute of Science, and referred to the deal to sell the F-35 aircraft to the United Arab Emirates. Nurkin said that “the acquisition of the F-35 will affect the arena, but it is not inconceivable that we will see training with the Gulf states soon.”
In his opening remarks, the Air Force Commander said that “there is a huge opportunity and strategic opportunity in agreements with the Gulf states. It will not be long before we see joint training with the Gulf air forces. A year ago we flew in training in Greece with the UAE. It will strengthen regional stability.”
“We want to maintain our quality advantage,” Nurkin said, adding, “I feel a deep American commitment that was also agreed with Secretary of Defense Bnei Gantz two months ago for the quality advantage. It is less good for us to have advanced aircraft in space. This is a trend that will affect us. “Ours maintain their standard and our defense industries maintain our relative advantage. It is a condition for our existence for centuries to come.”
The Air Force commander also addressed the issue of the Iranian threat and said that “the Middle East is very explosive. We will not get Iranian capabilities on the border and we will not get the capabilities of precision missiles in Lebanon.”
On the lack of a budget, Nurkin said, “We consume fuel, spare parts and bombs. The business is becoming complex. There is a burden on the commanders to manage it in the absence of a budget for the coming years.”