Posted on 09/14/2016 10:11:26 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
US and Israeli diplomats announced the largest military assistance package in US history on 14 September in a $38 billion, 10-year package that will deliver an assortment of American-designed weapon systems, including Lockheed Martin F-35 and Boeing F-15 fighters to Tel Aviv.
The agreement, which takes effect on 1 October 2018, pledges $38 billion to Israel over the next decade, including $33 billion in foreign military financing funds and $5 billion for missile defense, US national security advisor Susan Rice said.
In a surprise move, Rice added to the F-15E to the mix of weapon systems on the agenda for the 10-year aid package, perhaps reducing funds available to purchase Israel’s planned complement of 75 F-35I Adirs.
“This additional funding will allow Israel to update the lion’s share of its fighter aircraft fleet, including the acquisition of additional F-35s and F-15s,” she says.
Boeing referred questions about the agreement to the US and Israeli air forces, who were not immediately available for comment.
As Israel prepares for the delivery of the first F-35I Adir to Nevatim Air Base in December, the inclusion of F-15s in the deal could affect the mix of F-35s and F-15s in their fleet. While Israel defence officials requested more F-15 squadrons in 2015 as part of a “compensation package” following the US’s decision to lift sanctions against Iran, industry sources later told FlightGlobal that acquiring additional F-15s was unlikely.
Still, the agreement provides solid backing for the F-35 programme from Israel. The US has approved the sale of up to 75 F-35s to Israel and the country has signed contracts for 33 F-35s, the last of which will arrive around 2021, FlightGlobal previously reported.
During the unveiling of the F-35I Adir in Texas earlier this summer, Israeli air force chief of staff Brigadier Gen. Tal Kelman recommended the purchase of 17 additional F-35As. In addition to the conventional takeoff variant, Israel is also mulling over the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B, but that purchase would depend on additional F-35A buys. While Israeli officials would not comment this week on the MOU’s effect on discussions for a STOVL variant or a renewed V-22 purchase, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at the need for a vertical takeoff aircraft in July.
The memorandum of understanding, signed by Israeli national security adviser Jacob Nagel and US under secretary of state for political affairs Tom Shannon, comes after intense negotiations between the two nations. As the US faces tightening budgets and a gridlocked Congress, the agreement promises an unprecedented aid package and a steady stream of funding over the next 10 years that will be protected from political turmoil.
“For years, US funding for missile defense has been subject to uncertainty of the annual appropriations process,” Rice says. “Some years the funding has been unclear for months at a time, some years it’s been in decline. With this funding [Israel] will be able to count on a steady multi-year commitment.”
of course, if Obama weren’t shoving hundreds of billions of dollars of the most powrful advanced weapons to our enemies in Arabian dictatorships and IslamoNazi Iran and so forth and so on,
then Israel could maybe get by with less things that go boom
it is his treasonous funding and protection and arming and training of our enemies that worries me
like the Iranian IslamoNazi nuclear bombs AND ICBM ROCKETS TO DELIVER THEM onto American cities, that is worrisome to the MAX.....Obama funded, Obama protected..Obama enabled...
I know some big American corporations were helping build up Nazi Germany in the 1930’s, but after that experience.....and winning that war was NOT easy nor was it ever guaranteed we could do it.................... after THAT awful experience, we should have learned the lesson never to give our sworn enemies the means to destroy us
because they will attack us full=force just as soon as they think they can
What did he do, extend the length of the agreement, then reduce the amount each year to achieve the largest deal in history?
Thus he cuts our support, but looks like a hero...
That’s okay. Trump will redo everything this idiot has done.
We? We didn’t sell the military equipment.
We’re patriots.
The same greedy SOBs that own defense companies will still sell to anybody.
Trump needs 25 years to undo all the ills of the country. He’s gonna have to skip sleep and get it done in 8.
you know, for the first time in my 48 years, I fear America could lose a war for the disputed China sea islands.
Am I very wrong? I want to be.
But after that Iran debacle, the gaying up of our military, the F 35 mess, i dont know.
we meaning Ford (who was a nazi type to begin with, alas) and IBM and additional guilty companies
ok, enough on the 1930’s I will drop that for awhile
ha!
WE AGREE on the general problem and that Mr Trump will have a LOT of fixing to do.........I hope very very much he is even half as sincere as he appears to be......because he does look pretty capable generally..... he might be able to do a lot of fixing in 4 or 8 years....do not despair, let’s see first how he does
I lack the expertise to say whether we would lose such a war or not, sorry
but yes it is obvious Obama has been weakening USA and our defenses as much as he possibly can
and clearly if he were still in the Oral Office, our military would be CRIPPLED by his ‘rules of engagement’ just like he did to our military in Iraq and Afghanistan etc etc
he’d make SURE we’d go down to defeat
after Mr Trump is hopefully elected, it will take some time to regain our defensive strength, but at least we will have someone who won’t try to lose
I don’t honestly know.
We have five of our carriers in port right now. I had heard there are plans to pull all but two off the high seas.
I’ll be a lot more comfortable with Trump in there.
The guy is vicious when it comes to having the right people in the right places. I have an idea Obama’s cronies will have a short shelf life under him.
Ford and IBM? You have to let me know the details!
I’m 48, and have read some stuff about BMW supplying war parts or something along those lines. A few other companies.
Didn’t know about these two!
Henry Ford (Senior) was a Nazi from the git-go....here are a few quickly-found links to help you get started about Ford:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=4368
http://nowtheendbegins.com/pages/antisemitism/henry-ford-was-hitlers-inspiration.htm
and to get started with ibm:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ibm-and-nazi-germany/
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