U.S. Keeps Israel Out Of New Fighter-Jet Development Program

2005-10-12

Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

www.haaretz.com/hasen/ spages/634298.html

The United States is continuing to delay Israel's participation in its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, despite the resolution of the crisis in the security ties between the two countries, and despite the personnel changes at the Defense Ministry.

The Americans have agreed to renew the activities of a series of committees on security and strategic cooperation that ceased to convene during the crisis period, but the ban on Israel's participation in the JSF program will remain in effect until the Knesset passes new legislation relating to security exports, in keeping with a U.S. demand.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will travel to Washington next month and is expected to ask his U.S. counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, to remove the remaining barrier affecting the security ties between the two countries. The newly appointed director general of the Defense Ministry, Kobi Toran, will also visit the United States next month, at the head of an Israeli delegation to talks in the framework of the Joint Political-Military Group (JPMG) and the Joint Security Assistance Planning Group (JSAPG).

A third forum, the Defense Program Advisory Group (DPAG), will convene at a still undetermined date.

The three security groups, along with the strategic-political dialogue that will also be renewed next month, serve as the institutionalized channels for consultations between the United States and Israel on regional issues, such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, non-conventional threats and stability in the Arab states. The U.S. suspended the activities of these groups as a means of pressuring Israel over the China arms deal affair, which ended in an Israeli undertaking to respect U.S. concerns regarding China's military build-up and the resignation of former Defense Ministry director general Amos Yaron.

In the wake of the Israeli undertaking and Yaron's resignation, three U.S. Congressmen - Roy Blunt, Eric Cantor and Mark Steven Kirk - wrote to Rumsfeld last week and asked him to renew the activities of the three groups, agreeing to hold off Israel's participation in the F-35 JSF program until the Knesset passes the new legislation on security exports.

The F-35 is slated to serve the needs of all the branches of the U.S. military, and those of its allies. It will replace, among others, the F-16, the Israel Air Force's primary assault aircraft for the past 25 years.

The plane is being developed by Lockheed Martin, and participants in the project include Britain, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Holland, Italy and Australia. Companies from these countries can compete for various jobs in the framework of the project.

Israel and Singapore will be incorporated into the development of the plane as recipients of defense aid.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis