Three F-35 stealth fighter jets to arrive in Israel on Sunday

The five F-35 jets will participate for the first time in the Air Force Flyover during Independence Day.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
The Lockheed Martin F35 fighter jet plane, also known as the Adir, in a test flight (photo credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN AERONAUTICS/ LIZ LUTZ)
The Lockheed Martin F35 fighter jet plane, also known as the Adir, in a test flight
(photo credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN AERONAUTICS/ LIZ LUTZ)
On Sunday three F-35 "Adir" stealth fighter planes will land in Israel, the army said on Thursday. The three planes, which will take off tomorrow from their base in the United States, will join the two other planes which landed in Israel in December. 
The five F-35 (known by its Hebrew name “Adir” or “Mighty) jets will participate for the first time in the Air Force Flyover during Independence Day.
Israel was the first country outside the United States to receive the F-35  in early December and is expecting to receive a total of 50, two full squadrons by 2022.  Israel is set to receive six to seven per year, until the first batch of 33 jets is delivered.
F-35 Adir planes practice mid-air refueling in exercise (IDF SPOKESPERSON"S UNIT)
Once the jets arrive in Israel, they will not leave except for combat missions.
In a welcoming ceremony held for the first two planes delivered in December, President Reuven Rivlin said that the “the aircraft will change the rules of the game. Our enemies already know that it’s not worthwhile to harm Israel.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in glowing terms about the F-35 jets in December, saying that Israel's goal “is to obtain supremacy in every theater: in the air, in the sea, on the ground and in the cyber world. Israel is taking off to new heights, and when our pilots in the Adir jets will fly high, we will watch them with pride.”