TEL AVIV: The final push is on between Boeing and Lockheed Martin as Israel closes in on a final decision– which to buy first, more F-35s or an advanced version of the F-15 similar to the F-15X the US Air Force will buy.

A senior military source told Breaking Defense that both competitors are needed and the question is — is who will get bought first: “The IAF needs 75 F-35s and the advanced version of the F-15, and the question is, who will be the first to be purchased.”

Lockheed Martin sent Gary North, the company’s VP for customer requirements, the former head of Pacific Air Forces to press the company’s case. Aside from the expected claim that the F-35 is the best solution for the Israeli Air force’s challenges in the region, North said the unit price of LRIP Lot 14 will be $77.9 million, which means that the last six F-35s in the 50 aircraft contract will carry this price tag. They will be delivered in 2024. According to the best public estimate from the Pentagon, the F-15X will cost $90 million a copy, according to its Cost Assessment and Program (CAPE) analysts.

North said that the price of the F-35 flight hour is going down, and is, as Lockheed keeps promising and the government keeps doubting, going to to be $25,000 by 2025.

The Lockheed Martin senior official said that the radar of the F-35 is capable of detecting low flying threats like Iranian cruise missiles. North revealed that the F-35 test aircraft will be delivered to the IAF in the summer of 2020.

The IAF has prepared a list of weapon systems and “functional” systems that it intends to test on the special F-35 test aircraft.

The special test aircraft has been manufactured according to specifications that took two years to prepare.

The special aircraft is designed to adapt Israeli-developed systems to the IAF’s F-35s. “All our platforms have been upgraded to enable stretching the flight envelope while using the unique weapon systems made by the Israeli industries,” an IAF officer from its flight test center said.

Since the stealth fighter aircraft arrived, some Israeli-made systems have been tested in different scenarios, including during combat operations across the Middle East. But the test aircraft will allow these tests to be fully performed. We can’t offer many other details.

North said that the US and Israel are still negotiating how much the Israelis will be allowed to interface with the F-35’s core systems. While the US has claimed for years that partners and allies aircraft will have the same capabilities as those bought by the US, those negotiations make it clear there are limits. The test aircraft will help Israeli enhance the capabilities of the F-35 Adir in air-air and air-ground missions using highly classified Israeli systems developed for this purpose.

Israeli defense companies have been busy adapting operational systems for use on the F-35, including electronic systems and special weapons systems. These initial designs have been updated based on Israel’s combat experience, with the aircraft striking targets across the Middle East.

In addition to the special capabilities Israel plans to install on their F-35s, the IAF wants to perform all heavy maintenance — depot-level — in Israel but North said the aircraft has been designed so that it does not need depot maintenance.

The IAF has decided that only subsystems of the Lockheed Martin F-35 will be sent for maintenance and repair in special regional centers abroad.

“We have made it clear that the maintenance of the aircraft — including depot level — will be done in our bases” an IAF senior officer said. He added that even major subsystems will be sent to other countries only if “there is a technical reason.”

A Boeing source said that the F-15 “answers all the Israeli’s operational needs and the company has supplied the IAF all the relevant data.” The source also said the F-15 has the weapons capabilities that the Israelis will need in any future war.