The Israeli Air Force has its first female deputy commander of a fighter jet squadron. He was appointed today by the commander-in-chief of the weapon, General Amikam Norkin, who also designated two other women in top positions in the anti-missile system called the Iron Dome. The new deputy commander - whose name has not been released for security reasons - will serve on the 'Spearhead' team deploying F15 fighter jets at the Tel Nof air base in central Israel. The first woman to fly a combat aircraft in Israel was, 16 years ago, Roni Zuckermann.
The F-15I are the export version of the Strike Eagle produced by Boeing and destined for the IAI (Israeli Air Force), the Israeli military aviation. In the Middle Eastern country they are also known by the name of Ra'am, the Hebrew word meaning 'Thunder'.
In 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that seventeen F 35s would be purchased, bringing the number of planes produced by Lockheed Martin destined for Israel to a total of fifty.
For Israel, however, F-35 may not be enough despite being destined to play a leading role in the future of the country. As the specialized site wrote Flightglobal.com, which spoke with some anonymous sources informed of the facts, Tel Aviv would be considering the possibility of keeping a fleet diversified enough to meet operational needs. And here the F-15 would come into play, hunting able to work together with the Joint Strike Fighter.
For now, apart from the indiscretion collected by Flightglobal.com, there is not much else. If the news were to be confirmed, it would in any case be a further proof of the fact that the F-15 are particularly loved in the Middle Eastern country. As the Israeli newspaper wrote at the end of November, 2016 Haaretz, Tel Aviv's backbone of the coming years should be composed of a mix of F-15 and F-35.
The summits of the Israeli military aviation have always expressed appreciation towards the Strike Eagle, considered aircraft still able to perform their work in an excellent way considering the versatility and the ability to work in tandem with other aircraft.