Image source: topwar.ru
Israeli military pilots who have third-country passports in addition to Israeli citizenship will no longer be able to perform the functions of piloting the latest F-35 fighter jets. This decision was made by the US Department of Defense in order to protect information and technology.
It should be noted that in Israel a fairly large number of citizens of the country have a second citizenship, as a rule – the so-called "countries of origin". Among them may even be Russia, which is considered by the United States as an enemy today. The US military department doubts about the "reliability" of such Israeli military personnel, which is why they decided to play it safe with the issues of information security protection.
Interestingly, the American military department also drew attention to the fact that many officers of the Israeli army, including military aviation, own Chinese-made cars. Pentagon officials fear that Chinese cars with advanced multimedia systems may tag confidential information from the mobile phones of Israeli Defense Army officers.
The Israeli Air Force, according to the American press, has already agreed with the Pentagon's decision and refused to appoint pilots with dual citizenship on F-35 Adir aircraft. Recall that the F-35 Adir fighters have long been in service with the Israeli Air Force. Currently, the Israel Defense Forces have 50 such aircraft, and in the future they want to purchase another 25 fighters.
It is noteworthy that the United States, having sold fighter jets to Israel, retains the ability to dictate to a sovereign state the conditions under which these aircraft will be used. After all, in the end, it is Israel, not the United States, that should determine which officers will be able to fly its Air Force fighters and which will not.
