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Hände weg von Israel und Islam!
US Denies Israel Ability To Have Edge Over Arabs Buying Same Jet
2006-05-22
[IMRA: While spinmasters painted a glorious Olmert-Bush meeting ...]
Israel and U.S. in Disagreement over Warplane Project
Agence France-Presse, Jerusalem
www.defensenews.com/ story.php?F= 1817559&C=mideast
Israel and the United States are locked in disagreement over the warplane of the future after Washington refused to let Israel upgrade the aircraft with its own technology, a report said May 22.
The United States is refusing to allow Israel to install any more advanced systems in their batch of the F-35 planes - no navigation, sighting or fire control systems, or Israeli-developed missiles, the Maariv newspaper reported.
The disagreement could deal a huge blow to military hardware manufacturers Israel Aircraft Industries and Israel Military Industries, as well diminish the qualitative advantage of the air force over its regional rivals.
Other countries involved in developing the new F-35 fighter are also said to be annoyed by the new U.S. policy of selling the plane as a finished product with noone allowed to install foreign components.
Last year, the Pentagon announced it was denying Israel access to some technology and information about the development of the Joint Strike Fighter because of concerns that the intelligence could be leaked to third countries.
The United States also initially froze Israeli participation in work to develop the F-35, furious over an Israeli sale of sensitive military technology and equipment to China.
Israel, which receives $2.2 billion in U.S. military aid to buy U.S. defense equipment, has little room to maneuver when it comes to arms deals, despite some domestic calls to show independence from Washington.
The project to develop the F-35, expected to cost $100 million each, involves seven countries including Israel as a junior partner. The jets are expected to replace Israel's F-16s which have been in service for 30 years.
Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
