Stealth TailThe "Adir" will be the first stealth fighter in the IAF and upon its landing it will bring new abilities to the force. In order to design a tail for a stealth fighter, while considering its different characteristics and without damaging its unique abilities, careful work with suitable means is necessary. Ra'anan Weiss, a graphic designer that has been working with the IAF for many years and that has designed many squadron symbols and aircraft tails in the past 25 years, explains the story behind the design of the "Adir" tails. "The squadron approached me to design a new symbol for them in preparation for the arrival of the jets and afterwards it was decided that I would design the jets' tail as well", Weiss shared. "Because it is a stealth fighter, it cannot be painted in regular colors that are usually used. The Americans defined one hue of grey, which doesn't damage the jet's stealth, with which we will paint all of the markings. They are currently developing more hues which will be usable on the jets".The background of the "Golden Eagle" Squadron's symbol is colored in black and in the center of the symbol there is a yellow bird and behind it green lines that create a 3-D sensation, so it looks like the bird is coming closer. The frame of the symbol is grey and indicates the color of the "Adir" jets. "The artistic background for the tail design was the squadron symbol that I designed. The bird in the symbol is the same bird from the squadron's old symbol, which we modernized. I kept its general guidelines but sharpened the wings and feathers and created ‘shoulders', so it would look like the F-35I. The new bird has elements that imply to fighter jets and attack".
Despite the dreams of some that Israeli F-35s might look like this:The Israelis have stuck to the mantra of "you can have any colour you like so long as it is grey":
It'll never work. Cheers,Logan
3 of the 6 F-35s out on ship trials for DT III