[belter]

You should look at Israel deal for the F-35. They got the only F-35 unlocked and non dependent on the US software lock. They were never part of the development program like Norway, Denmark, Italy or the Netherlands so did not have to bear those costs. Norway, Denmark, Italy or the Netherlands, still had to pay for their F-35...

Israel paid 2.3 Billion for their F-35, but the US committed to buy 4 Billion from Israel defense firms, so concluding with a net positive of +1.25 Billion for Israel economy....all at the cost to the US tax payer. :-)

"F-35I Adir: Israel’s Custom F-35 That No Other Nation Has" - https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/04/f-35i-adir-israels-custo...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning...

[mupuff1234]

So the US basically got billions and billions worth of F-35 R&D for the price of 2B?

Sounds like a decent deal to me.

[belter]

You completely misunderstood the money flow....

[mupuff1234]

You completely miss the fact that the same R&D Israel has done would have cost 100x more if it were done by US based companies.

The US gains massive cheap R&D and real world tested capabilities for a fraction of the price it would pay domestically.

Now you could argue about the moral implications, but money wise it's a great deal.

[belter]

Except that is not what is happening:

"...To sweeten the deal, Lockheed Martin said it would buy parts and systems for the F-35 from Israeli companies at a cost of $4 billion..."

What is funny thing to say, since Israel, unlike the other nations, never supported the development costs of the F-35 program :-)

[epolanski]

This net positive argument is asinine.

You aren't burning money, you're getting services and technologies.

[belter]

I pay you 2 dollars and you buy 4 dollars from me. In the meanwhile I also get 20 F-35...