Israel's other weapons sources
Those of you who recall the story from 10 days or so ago when it was disclosed that the United States had
denied Israel Hellfire missiles for use in Gaza, and who are aware that Britain and Spain have placed an embargo on weapons sales to us, might be wondering whether Israel has sources for weapons other than the United States and Western Europe. Unfortunately, while we have such sales
they are negligible.
According to Defense Ministry figures, around one-quarter of the
output of the Israeli defense industry is intended for IDF use. The rest
is exported.
Despite official Israel’s reluctance to get specific
about its arms trade, reports submitted by various states to the UN’s
Register of Conventional Arms shed some light on the matter. For
example, Ukraine’s official reports state that two years ago, Ukraine
sold Israel 193 missiles and 32 launchers. According to reports made as
part of the voluntary disclosure mechanism, in 2010 Ukraine sold Israel
four Strella (SA-7) missiles and two launchers, about 75 Igla missiles
of various models and 10 launchers for them. It is not clear why Israel
purchased so many Russian-made shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
The assumption is that they are being acquired as part of Israel’s
development of systems to counter them, such as the aircraft-defense
system. As recently as February, Defense Ministry officials and Elbit
Systems announced the successful completion of tests of the Sky Shield
system, which is intended to protects civilian aircraft from
shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Arms experts have said it likely
that Russian-made missiles were used in the test. Still, the number of
missiles Ukraine reported selling to Israel is relatively large even for
that purpose. Defense Ministry officials declined to comment for this
report.
Reports in the UN Register that were examined in recent
years point to some more interesting acquisitions, mainly for
Soviet-made arms that are not considered at the forefront of technology.
For example, in 2008 Ukraine reported that it sold Israel a launcher
for BM-21 rockets — a launcher that the Israeli army used in the past
after it was captured as booty in the Yom Kippur War and used during the
first Lebanon War. Hezbollah uses it to fire Grad rockets. In 2006, the
Czech Republic sold Tochka tactical missile systems to Israel. Two
years previously, Bulgaria sold Israel six 130 mm artillery systems
about which no further details were provided.
Against the backdrop of reports about Britain and Spain examining their
arms sales to Israel, an expert characterized the amount of arms that
Israel purchases from countries other than the United States as
“negligible.”
...
Israel has signed several significant defense contracts with other
countries in recent years. Germany provides Israel with submarines from
its HDW shipyards in Kiel. Israel has purchased six submarines so far,
three of which are in use by the Israel navy. The IDF has taken delivery
of two submarines, with additional deliveries scheduled through the end
of 2019.
Italy last year arranged to sell 30 M-346 training
aircraft to Israel. The first of these are already making their first
flights. As part of the deal, Israel sold Italy several defense
products, an Israeli-made satellite and a deterrent aircraft produced by
Israel Aerospace Industries in a deal estimated at $2 billion dollars.
Last
month, the Defense Ministry issued an international tender for the
purchase of “defense ships,” which will be used to protect the offshore
natural-gas drilling rigs in the Mediterranean Sea. According to an
Israeli Navy plan for the protection of the rigs that the defense
minister and the chief of staff approved about two years ago, four more
large vessels will be required to secure the area properly, at a cost of
roughly 100 million dollars per ship. The names of several foreign
shipyards — in Germany, Italy, the United States and South Korea — were
mentioned in the past as possible makers of the ships that would protect
the natural-gas fields.
There are two answers. In the short term, export less and use our own arms. That will help only when the arms in question are arms that we produce domestically. Obviously, there are things (like submarines) that we do not produce domestically, and for which we will still be dependent on other countries.
But in the long run we should be developing our own military industry more than we have been. If we have learned nothing else in the last six years, we should have learned that there are even situations where we cannot count on the United States. We should not be dependent on anyone. Not even the United States. What if Hillary Clinton - or possibly worse Elizabeth Warren is the next President? We would have 4-8 more years of pressure and unreliability. It's time that we learn to cope on our own. We're a big enough economy to pull it off.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Elizabeth Warren, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Italy, military equipment, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, United States, weapons acquisition
Video: Kuwaiti MP's defend dealing with Israel
Two Kuwaiti MP's have gone on television in recent weeks to defend their government's purchase of equipment for their security forces from the State of Israel. These kinds of deals were always made in the background, but for them to be acknowledged openly by the legislators of a Muslim country on television is really quite shocking.
Notice the dig at how little the Arab world to defend Kuwait against Iraq during the lead-up to and during the First Gulf War.
Let's go to the videotape.
Labels: Arab boycott of Israel, Kuwait, military equipment, Sharia law
Korean Aerospace may get huge defense contract from IAF
They
study Talmud and now they are poised to overtake the Italians to become the suppliers of the
next generation of trainers for the IAF.
A competition to sell the Israel Air Force’s new advanced combat trainers is heating up as a Korean defense delegation plans to arrive in Israel next month to sign an agreement paving the way for increased cooperation and potentially $5 billion in sales for Israeli companies.
The agreement is part of a South Korean effort to persuade Israel to select Korean Aerospace Industries’ (KAI’s) T-50 advanced trainer as the replacement for the IAF’s aging fleet of A-4 Skyhawks, which are currently used to train cadets in their advanced pilot training.
Competing against the T-50 is Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master.
KAI alone has offered Israel over $1b. in industrial cooperation if its aircraft is chosen.
The remaining deals are expected from the Korean government.
Read the whole thing - this actually sounds like it could be huge.
One of the keys here is that the Italians have become financially unstable, while South Korea is a lot like Israel in that it's under constant threat from a heavily armed neighbor and it's become an economic powerhouse despite that threat.
Labels: arms sales, military equipment, South Korea
IDF looks to buy US surplus weapons in Iraq
When the US withdraws from Iraq, shipping all the army's equipment back to the US would probably make no economic sense. So Israel has made a proposal: It will
buy much of the equipment that the US has in Iraq.
The Defense Ministry is in talks with the Pentagon about the possibility of buying American military equipment that will be retired following the US withdrawal from Iraq.
The advantage in purchasing used military equipment from the US is the price, which is dramatically lower than buying the same equipment new.
The IDF Ground Forces Command is looking to renew its aging fleet of Humvee combat vehicles with ones that the US will be phasing out as it reduces its troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Israel is also interested in acquiring surplus weapons and ammunition the US will no longer require following the withdrawals.
“It seems that in some cases it is cheaper to sell to other countries than to transport back to the US or bases in Europe,” one defense official said.
Other countries in the region may also try to buy some of the equipment, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are both longtime customers of the US defense industries.
If this goes through, I will bet that the Obama administration uses it to show how security cooperation between the US and Israel is better than ever.... Heh.
Labels: IDF, Iraq, military equipment, US-Israel relationship
'Palestine' declaration to lead to boycott of Israel?
Officials in Israel's defense establishment have expressed concern that a unilateral declaration of 'statehood' by the 'Palestinians' at the United Nations in September could lead to a
boycott of Israeli military products.
The concern, voiced by leading officials in the defense establishment, comes ahead of the Paris Air Show next month, where Israeli hardware will be on display in pursuit of new sales.
“We need to prepare for the possibility that a unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestinians at the United Nations in September will lead to a boycott of Israeli military hardware,” a senior defense official said this week.
In 2010 and 2009, Israel was the fourth largest exporter of weaponry and military platforms in the world, behind the United States, Russia and France. Blue-and-white defense exports reached around $7.5 billion each year.
The defense establishment has already been concerned with how 2011 will end financially for the large companies – Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems – due to the global economic recession and to the West’s planned withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan.
...
The two markets believed to be most at risk in the event of a boycott are Europe and South America. Sales to Europe have remained steady over the years but Israeli companies have been seeking larger contracts in South America.
We're borrowing trouble. Why would the defense establishment even raise anything like this? What is the point? There is no way we can stop the vote at the United Nations, and while Turkey, which is a Muslim country, may be willing to hurt itself by boycotting products from the country that has the best of the best, other countries - like those in Europe and Latin America - are less likely to do so. Do you think they're going to stop using cellphones and Intel computer chips too?
Labels: boycott Israel, military equipment, unilateral declaration of statehood
US to store more military equipment in Israel
Maybe we should open up a few more
warehouses....
The United States will store an additional $400 million in emergency military equipment in Israel over the next two years, according to a report this week by Defense News. It will bring the amount of American military equipment being stockpiled in Israel by 2012 to $1.2 billion.
The equipment will be available to Israel in the event of an emergency, as it was during the Second Lebanon War. It includes smart bombs and other precision weaponry.
I assume we need someone's permission to use the equipment and that we have to pay for it later. But it's still a pretty good deal.
Will Obama let us use it as Bush did?
Labels: military equipment
