UK plans joint fighter-jet exercise with Israel over Negev - The Jewish Chronicle

The UK government is drawing up plans for a joint training exercise between the RAF and the Israel Air Force to improve combat techniques for British pilots.

Both forces use the F-35 fighter jets and British pilots will learn new skills from battle-tested IAF pilots during next year’s exercise over the Negev desert in southern Israel.

The project forms part of deepening security relations between the two countries post Brexit, cemented by the recent signing of a new ten year trade and defence pact.

Israel’s former ambassador Mark Regev, whose father’s life was saved during the Second World War when an RAF bomber raid on Magdeburg allowed him to escape Nazi clutches, said: "Closer cooperation between our two countries makes both more secure.

“When Israel gained its independence, it was a new country and Britain was a great power. Today Israel has moved up. We’d love to have the English Channel with Denmark as neighbours, but we are in a permanent war zone. However, this means we have accelerated certain developments which could be of benefit to Britain.

“And from Israel’s point of view, this cooperation gives us access to a respected partner - a serious country with a serious national security and defence structure - and the ability to work and train and cooperate with them. It’s a win-win situation.”

With both countries facing the ongoing threat of radical Islamist terrorism and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the new pact will expand areas of cooperation into cyber technology, artificial intelligence and anti-drone capabilities.

RAF Typhoons last week shot down a hostile UAV armed with heat-seeking missiles that was believed to have been operated by Iran-backed militias and was targeting the US al-Tanf base in Syria.

Syria itself remains a threat, with Israel’s air force reportedly, carrying out at least two raids over the past 18 months to prevent attempts by the Assad regime to restart its production of deadly nerve agents.

RAF head Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston and his Israeli counterpart, Major General Amikam Norkin, have formed strong ties following a visit to Israel and Mr Regev said the two countries were forging ever closer ties.

The recent memorandum of understanding, signed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and her counterpart Yair Lapid declared “a new strategic plan for the next decade spanning cyber, tech, trade and defence. It followed the Abraham Accords last year which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco join Egypt and Jordan in normalising relations with Israel.

Mr Regev said: “The UK has important allies and defence relationships in the region, especially in the Gulf, and there were concerns that a public relationship with Israel could jeopardise these.

“With the Abraham Accords it became clear that the risk of negative blowback was gone; that Britain’s partners in the region had no problem with the UK developing relations with Israel, as they were doing themselves. That was important.”