(CNBC) Jake Novak - Standing in front of an F-35 jet parked at an Israeli Air Force base, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel can reach Iran, but Iran cannot reach Israel. He didn't add the words "undetected by radar," but it was surely implied. During the months leading up to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, reports in the Israeli news media surfaced about how Israelis working on F-35 prototypes had managed to double the jet's flight and stealth capacity. The extension meant Israeli Air Force pilots could use the F-35 to fly from Israel to Tehran and back without detection. Suddenly, U.S.-Israeli air superiority in the region had risen to a new level. In July 2018, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that Israel had flown a test mission of at least three F-35 jets to Tehran and back from an airbase near Tel Aviv. The same Kuwaiti newspaper said that Iran's military leadership kept news of the stealth mission from reaching Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. When Khamenei found out about the mission, he reportedly moved to fire Iran's air force chief and the powerful commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. That's major impact without even firing a shot. And since reports of the Israeli stealth enhancement first surfaced, Lockheed Martin shares are up more the 75%.
2019-07-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive