Reports for several years have said the Israeli Air Force has been developing range-extending fuel tanks for the F-35, potentially enabling strikes at distant targets such as Iran without aerial refueling. While external fuel tanks can increase range, they would likely increase the aircraft’s radar signature and reduce stealth unless jettisoned before entering enemy airspace.
Leiter’s reference to missiles mounted on the wings reflects a configuration commonly known as “beast mode,” in which stealth is traded for additional firepower. A year ago, the Israeli Air Force said it had developed, together with Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon’s F-35 program, a capability to carry missiles on the wings, stating that its aircraft are the “only F-35 to conduct strikes with this design,” and images released during the June 2025 war with Iran showed missiles attached to the wings of Israeli F-35I jets.
“The number of flight hours our pilots have on the F-35 is greater than that of all the pilots of the other foreign countries that were partners in developing the aircraft,” Leiter said. “The feedback from our pilots reaches Lockheed Martin. When I visited there a few weeks ago, their CEO told me that Israel’s information and developments ‘are worth many billions to my company.’”
Source: The Times of Israel.
