Israel may seek to procure a squadron of used USAF F-15s to bridge the anticipated gap until it receives its first F-35 strike fighters. This is one of the options, including upgrades to its existing F-15s and F-16s, that the Israeli defense ministry is considering to keep its combat aircraft inventory at 460 airframes until the F-35 enters its inventory, reports UPI. Though Israel inked a $2.75 billion deal with the United States for 20 F-35s last October—with an eye toward an eventual 75—delays in the overall F-35 program may push back the first Israeli deliveries by several years to as late as 2018. “Qualitative advantage has been a main element of Israeli’s security concept,” Yiftah Shapir, a security analyst at Tel Aviv University told UPI, in explaining why the defense ministry would have interest in the used USAF F-15s.
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA