The Israeli Air Force on Thursday dedicated its third Adir squadron, which will call the Nevatim Airbase in the south its home.
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Comprising the advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets exclusively, the 117th Squadron – the namesake of the iconic IAF squadron that led the 1981 strike on the nuclear reactor in Iraq – will initially focus primarily on training pilots.
The squadron thus joins the two existing F-35 formations, the 140th Squadron, formed in 2016, and the 116th Squadron, which became operations in 2020.
The IAF has already begun perpetrations to form a fourth stealth jet squadron.
The Israeli Air Force currently has 27 F-35 stealth jets, delivered as part of a 50-aircraft deal inked with the United States. Delivery of the remaining jets should be concluded by 2024, with six aircraft expected to arrive each year until then.
Israel is currently negotiating the procumbent of 25 additional F-35 jets.
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