I worked for the American division of an Israeli defense company. Yes, they benefited from US technology but they mostly take what they can use and improve it. Here’s why we don’t. I twice had an opportunity to present ideas for improvements and products to a program manager and the VP of marketing at General Dynamics. The PM said, “Damn! That’s genius! I don’t want to rain on your parade but GD does not invest a single dollar in development unless they get that dollar back by the end of that fiscal year. We do what the government tells us and they have to pay for it.” When presented with an idea to upgrade India’s existing fleet of Soviet vehicles to current US standards using existing drawings they had inherited from an acquisition the VP of marketing kept repeating, “We don’t want to sell them upgrades. We want them to buy Stryker’s.” I demonstrated that was both politically and fiscally impossible, yet he repeated it three times. I felt like I was talking to an animatronic recorder.
Contrast this with the Israeli company. Someone as low as a factory floor worker could flag down the CEO, present an idea and that idea would be acted on if the CEO felt it might, might be valuable. I saw this happen from all levels of employee. The result was dramatic compounding improvements in production, reliability and technology. The US is, to my knowledge, always presented with these improvements and they almost never take advantage. But the opportunity is there. The reason is, implementing even a small change with a huge improvement costs an amazing amount to implement worldwide because of documentation updates.
All the information given below is info Israel and its annoying stalwarts do not want you to know.
While this is a form of foreign aid, it is important to note that Israel’s total control of Congress has sometimes allowed it to inveigle Congress into transforming “bills due for military aid” into “gifts.”
Here’s a breakdown of how the FMF program works in relation to Israel:
<><>Grants for purchases: The FMF program provides grant funding that Israel uses to purchase defense articles and services from the United States.
<><>Long-term agreement: This funding is part of a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Israeli governments, ensuring a consistent level of military assistance. The current MOU allocates $3.3 billion annually for FMF and an additional $500 million for cooperative missile defense programs. Not direct gifts: Israel uses these funds to purchase military equipment and services, essentially using U.S. grant money to buy U.S. goods and support industries.
It is also crucial to be aware that the U.S. may provide additional military assistance to Israel beyond the FMF program, particularly during times of conflict or emergencies, as evidenced by supplemental appropriations following the October 7, 2023, attacks.
In essence, while the U.S. provides substantial US tax dollars for Israel’s defense needs through the FMF program, it’s structured as a turnaround——tax dollars given for “purchases.” Until Israel decides to have “purchases” turned into “gifts” by Congress.
That's probably accurate. To be fair, if i was in the national security production or R&D, I might have the same attitude. Why? Because as soon as the WH switches to Dim your funding might be cut and your business doesn't recoup losses for R&D. It's a risky business decision when the Dims think of America's military might as the equivalent of arming the evil of the planet.
Israel doesn't seem to have that kind of wavering support for military capability. Their R&D can push forward knowing they'll see it to completion.
When your military industrial establishment is soft and what it does has nothing to do with any immediate existential threat to your country, it will deny a place to the real entrepreneurs because they make waves in the cozy long standing relationships.
And when innovation does seep into our military industrial complex, then every actor in that complex, in and out of government, plus plenty of actors from Congress, will add 20 million additional needless bells and whistles, making a bloated mess of any good idea.
In Israel, a country under constant existential threat, they don’t have time for that nonsense.
Another similar case in point:
Recently some top people from a couple of the shipyards that build our navy ships, and some top brass from the Navy, visited a shipyard in South Korea that builds military ships for the South Korean Navy. The American visitors were amazed, as the South Korean shipyard was so far advanced compared to the American shipyards, and the building process so much more automated and so much more efficient, and of such greater quality. Why? In part, the existential threat from North Korea puts the attention where it belongs - building the best they can and doing it as fast as possible.
Sounds like Detroit vs. Japan in the 80's.