Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 09/18/2010 1:09:15 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Israeli ministers, generals oppose purchase of US F-35 warplane
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 18
It now turns out that unostentatiously, while overseeing the Israel-Palestinian peace talks, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton busied herself last week in Jerusalem with an errand of equal important to Washington: bulldozing Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak into agreeing to buy 35 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning stealth warplanes for the Israeli Air Force at a cost of $4.7 billion.
This transaction Israel can ill afford. debkafile's military sources report it is opposed by senior ministers, especially Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, and even more fiercely by high IDF officers and heads of Israel's Aerospace Industries. Nonetheless, Clinton got her wish; a special committee the Prime Minister set up for the purpose approved the purchase after cutting down the final number of F-35 warplanes from 35 to 20 at a cost of "only" $2.7 billion.
Military chiefs, furious over Netanyahu's hasty action, said it makes nonsense of the drastic cuts just imposed on defense spending and means that the IDF will have to do without certain new weapons systems needed for facing up to threats from Iran, Syria, Hizballah and Hamas. One officer accused the prime minister of "shamefully and needlessly surrendering to American pressure."
debkafile's military sources dismiss reports that Israeli industry will take part in manufacturing the F-35s on sale are untrue. On the contrary, the Americans have laid down tougher limitations than ever before against Israeli access to the production process.
Israeli aeronautical experts and technicians are denied access to the production lines of the plane. Israel's Air Force and Aerospace Industries are prohibited from installing their own homemade systems to the new plane or even altering the Lockheed Martin systems to meet their special needs without prior US consent.
Even Israeli pilots will only see the finished product when it is ready for their instruction. This will happen towards the end of 2011. The first F-35s are scheduled for delivery in 2015.
Two ministers, Steinitz and the former chief of staff Moshe Yaalon, are skeptical about the US plane's ability to contribute much toward enhancing the IAF's standards. Its design has met wide criticism in military aviation circles. They fear that the decision to purchase it was guided by politics rather than military considerations.
Our sources disclose that President Barack Obama instructed Clinton to secure Israel's consent to buy the F-35 without delay to help him get through an increasingly reluctant Congress $60 billion advanced arms transaction with Saudi Arabia.
The Israelis who are against buying the F-35 argue that it is not in Israel's interest to help the Saudis acquire top-line American weaponry, certainly without a guarantee that it may be turned against Israel some time in the future.
Different article along the same lines-
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_israel0907_09_17.asp
Yes, but isn't that what vendor financing and the Export-Import bank are for?
Why would they not want to buy a stealth fighter?
Hey, whatever happened to “sonofstrangelove”, who briefly cornered the market on defense-system threads? He hasn’t posted since mid-July....
Probably has something to do with that Israel to China technology pipeline.
Very expensive and maybe they have a problem doing business with obammy who along with his moosie brothers is trying to purge Israel
Israel already has ICBMs.
Jericho 3
Maximum range: 11,500km (7,000 miles)
Payload: 1,300kg (one megaton nuclear warhead or 3-4 smaller nuclear warheads in MIRV config)
They also have diesel subs with SLCMs, but what Israel really needs are boomers and strategic bombers. That being said, for the near future boomer production is highly unlikely. I would like to see Israel acquire 10-12 B-1s from us, but under Obama I don’t see that happening.
As far as a new PM, who do you suggest?
“Procuring the most advanced fighter jet in the world is a significant step towards bolstering the state of Israel’s military capability,”
Last that I knew, the F-22 line was shut down, and, in any case we weren’t selling them to anybody.
So, Israel buying the most advanced jet fighter would be a good thing! Get production resumed and soon, since I suspect that we’ll need it.
On the other hand, forcing them to buy the second class F-35 would be a flat ripoff, which would be par for the course with the current administration.
Jackie Mason.
The line isn't quite shut down yet. They still have about 20 more F-22s to build for the USAF.
But no, they're still not for sale to anyone else.
No, bank loans must be repaid, don't they? Or did you mean aid?
Finally, it's not buying from US but buying this particular aircraft that is in question, isn't it?
“Isn’t that what vendor financing is for?”
...bank loans must be repaid, right?
Riiiight.
I was being sarcastic, in the sense that many purchases have been financed by both governments and manufacturers more eager to make the immediate sale than to worry about full collection in the future. Will this be another? I don’t know, but if the purchase comes with a loan, it feels like a potential giveaway. Now, the Israelis are high on my list to be generous to with respect to arms, but that’s for another discussion.
Good question. I actually raised it a month or so ago. The guy simply disappeared, and it is quite worrying. I hope nothing bad happened to him.
Thanks; I now understand your remark much better.
Thanks; I now understand your remark much better.
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