|
Israel Purchases U.S.-made F-16 Jets With American Aid
JERUSALEM, June 19 (IslamOline) - Israel has officially said it will buy over 50 more F-16I fighter jets from the U.S. Lockheed Martin in spite of world condemnation for using the planes against Palestinian targets during the nine-month-old uprising against the Israeli occupation, an Israel newspaper said.
The ultra-right wing newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, said Wednesday that the announcement came at the Paris Air Show yesterday, following a meeting between Israeli War Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Lockheed Martin officials.
Israeli bought a similar number two years ago. The two billion dollars deal will be for the same two-seat F-16 configuration, with deliveries expected to start in 2006 and end in 2009. Most of the funding will come from an annual more than two billion dollars in U.S. military aid.
The F-16I is considered one of the most advanced fighter-bombers in the world.
Ben-Eliezer said the long-range attack jets would give the government the chance to take far-reaching risks for peace, his office said in a statement.
A Defense Ministry statement said that the agreement was reached in principle and that formal government agreements will be reached later.
"This order is another significant development that continues the long heritage of cooperative programs between the government of Israel and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
It reinforces the significant defense capability provided by Israel's air force, which relies on the F-16 as the backbone of its fighter aircraft fleet," Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron said in a statement.
Lockheed Martin and Israeli defense officials said that the new planes would include a number of systems produced by Israeli industries. Two weeks ago, the Defense Ministry announced that it had chosen Pratt & Whitney to supply the engines, the Jerusalem Post said on its web site.
The final assembly of the F-16Is will take place at Lockheed Martin's facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
The decision did not come as a surprise, since the major competition between two of America's aerospace giants, Lockheed Martin and Boeing with its F-15, ended two years ago when the Israeli occupation army opted for 50 F-16s with an option to purchase 50 more.
Senior Israeli army officers had said they were considering mixing the next purchase with F-15Is. It is not clear whether the agreement left this option open.
The first 50 F-16s cost $2.5 billion.
The plane costs less than half as much as the F-15, the Israeli paper said.
The American-backed Israeli military has already some 320 F-16s, which make up the backbone of its fighter fleet. But the new F-16I will be able to strike further, posing a threat to Iran and Libya, and will be equipped with a more advanced U.S.-made radar system.
Israel came into existence in 1948 after a war with its Arab neighbors. Ever since, Israel has mostly initiated wars against its Arab neighbors.
Israel has recently used U.S.-made jet fighters, F-16, tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons to quell the Palestinian uprising against Israeli
occupation.
|
