Israel already possesses a mature aerospace base, currently manufacturing critical, advanced components for international platforms, including the wings and helmet-mounted displays for the F-35.
By Hezy Laing
Is the Jewish State capable of producing its own homemade jet fighter?
Defense analyst David Rodman of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies argues that Israel must urgently end its complete reliance on the United States for manned combat aircraft by developing a “Lavi 2.0” domestic fighter-bomber program.
In a July 2026 paper published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA), Rodman contends that the strategic and financial realities keeping Israel from producing its own jets have completely shifted since the 1980s.
To mitigate arms cutoff risks, Rodman details that Israel’s defense establishment should act immediately to revive indigenous manufacturing to ensure the Israeli Air Force is never left without advanced aircraft if foreign political alignments shift or supply chains disrupt.
Opponents say Israel can’t produce a domestic fighter due to prohibitive costs and strategic realities.
Developing a modern stealth jet, they say, costs tens of billions of dollars, a burden that would cripple Israel’s economy and drain funding from vital assets like air defenses, drones, and cyber warfare.
Furthermore, they believe Israel cannot match the massive industrial scale of the United States.
They also claim that cutting ties with American aerospace giants would sever critical technological partnerships and jeopardize billions in vital U.S. military aid.
True strategic independence, they say, is better achieved by expanding domestic ammunition manufacturing and modifying imported aircraft with proprietary Israeli electronics.
But Rodman argues, Israel already possesses a mature aerospace base, currently manufacturing critical, advanced components for international platforms, including the wings and helmet-mounted displays for the F-35, making the project highly feasible economically because, unlike the 1980s economy that forced the cancellation of the original Lavi, Israel is now a wealthy nation capable of funding a major fighter program without harming its broader society.
Historically, Israel successfully built and flew the advanced IAI Lavi prototype in 1986, but the Israeli cabinet narrowly voted to cancel the project in August 1987 due to immense budget strain and heavy political and financial pressure from the United States, which saw the jet as a direct market competitor to the F-16, leading to reliance on American-supplied manned fighters.
Today, Rodman’s thesis aligns with evolving defense debates and an emerging consensus in Israeli strategic circles, where local defense officials have begun hinting at a 10-year outlook to build autonomous combat platforms and domestic stealth aircraft to diversify capabilities alongside ongoing purchases of American F-35 and F-15 fleets.
