Global Military Industrial Disease

5 Replies to “Global Military Industrial Disease”

1. Another Aftenposten supposed Wikileaks cable (Aftenposten isn’t linking to the cables and they haven’t been posted on Wikileaks yet much to my annoyance):

   Wikileaks: Israel has 100 bunkerknusere

   American and Israeli leaders was the fall of 2009 agreed that we should avoid referring to the delivery of bombs to destroy Iranian nuclear installations.

   In November 2009, set a high-level group of Americans and Israelis together in Tel Aviv. On the agenda was the political and military situation in the Middle East. Concern about Iran’s nuclear program dominated both the American and Israeli delegation, it appears from a document that Aftenposten have accessed via Wikileaks.

   The document states that the Israeli government was looking at 2010 as a critical year, provided that the Iranians continued to increase the protection around the nuclear installations. -Both sides then discussed the upcoming delivery of GBU-28 “bunker-bombs shatter” to Israel. Mon noted that deliveries should take place in silence so that we could avoid allegations that the U.S. government to help Israel to prepare for an attack on Iran, “the document.

   GBU-28 is a powerful bomb that was developed before the Iraq war in 1991. The Americans wanted then to have a bomb that could penetrate the Iraqi command centers that were under the earth and / or behind reinforced concrete. The bomb is 5,000 pounds, that is approximately 2260 kg and is laser guided. From the discussion in the leaked document from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, it seems that the Israelis have obtained the bombs, by all accounts, 100 pieces, to break the Iranian nuclear program, the day they were to become necessary.

   Apart from this ascertainment in one of the leaked Wikileaks documents, it is between Americans and Israelis surprisingly small acute anxiety for the Iranian nuclear program. Israelerne tar opp saken gang på gang, og gjør det klart at en iransk atombombe vil være katastrofal for fredsbestrebelsene i Midtøsten. The Israelis take the matter up again and again and makes it clear that an Iranian nuclear bomb would be disastrous for peace efforts in the Middle East. In autumn 2009, it is nevertheless clear that both Israelis that Americans believe that they still have time before an Iranian nuclear bomb is a fact. The Israelis therefore want Americans to continue their efforts to deter the Iranians through sanctions. To get Russia and China on board, is imperative.

   Sweden

   In a memo from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv from September 2009 says a top official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry that the EU and the U.S. together can implement hard-hitting sanctions against Iran even without Russia and China. The Israeli government also expects that, within the EU in this case will face protests from the usual “acquaintances of the police” (Usual Suspects), namely, Austria, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. In another memo from December 2009 the Israeli government expresses delight that the Swedish EU presidency draws to a close.

   More info on the GBU-28 bunkerbusters from Wikipedia.

   Back in March 2010

   Obama blocks delivery of bunker-busters to Israel

   WASHINGTON — The United States has diverted a shipment of bunker-busters designated for Israel. ShareThis

   Officials said the U.S. military was ordered to divert a shipment of smart bunker-buster bombs from Israel to a military base in Diego Garcia. They said the shipment of 387 smart munitions had been slated to join pre-positioned U.S. military equipment in Israel Air Force bases.

   “This was a political decision,” an official said.

   In 2008, the United States approved an Israeli request for bunker-busters capable of destroying underground facilities, including Iranian nuclear weapons sites. Officials said delivery of the weapons was held up by the administration of President Barack Obama, Middle East Newsline reported.

   Since taking office, Obama has refused to approve any major Israeli requests for U.S. weapons platforms or advanced systems. Officials said this included proposed Israeli procurement of AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, refueling systems, advanced munitions and data on a stealth variant of the F-15E.

   “All signs indicate that this will continue in 2010,” a congressional source familiar with the Israeli military requests said. “This is really an embargo, but nobody talks about it publicly.”

   Under the plan, the U.S. military was to have stored 195 BLU-110 and 192 BLU-117 munitions in unspecified air force bases in Israel. The U.S. military uses four Israeli bases for the storage of about $400 million worth of pre-positioned equipment meant for use by either Washington or Jerusalem in any regional war.

   In January 2010, the administration agreed to an Israeli request to double the amount of U.S. military stockpiles to $800 million. Officials said the bunker-busters as well as Patriot missile interceptors were included in the agreement.

   The decision to divert the BLU munitions was taken amid the crisis between Israel and the United States over planned construction of Jewish homes in Jerusalem. The administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has warned that Washington could reduce military aid to Israel because of its construction policy.

   In 2007, after its war in Lebanon, Israel requested 2,000 BLU-109 live bombs from the United States. The 2,000-pound bomb, produced by Boeing and coupled with a laser guidance kit, was designed to penetrate concrete bunkers and other underground hardened sites.

   Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, was quoted as saying that his country faced its biggest crisis with the United States since 1975. A pro-Israel lobbyist said Oren was referring to the current U.S. embargo, which echoed a decision taken 35 years ago by then-President Gerald Ford after Israel’s refusal to withdraw from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Oren has since denied the remark.

   Haaretz says the bunkerbusters came from California, WT says they were diverted from destinations at US Israeli stockpiles which Israel can access.

2. Note: The ‘No. delivered/produced’ and the ‘Year(s) of deliveries’ columns refer to all deliveries since the beginning of the contract. Deals in which the recipient was involved in the production of the weapon system are listed separately. The ‘Comments’ column includes publicly reported information on the value of the deal. Information on the sources and methods used in the collection of the data, and explanations of the conventions, abbreviations and acronyms, can be found at URL . The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database is continuously updated as new information becomes available.
   Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
   Information generated: 03 January 2011

   Recipient/ Year Year(s) No.
   supplier
   (S)
   or No. Weapon Weapon of order/ of delivered/
   licenser
   (L) ordered designation description licence deliveries produced Comments

   Israel
   S: USA 200 AIM-120C AMRAAM BVRAAM (2007) Contract not yet signed
   500 AIM-9L/M Sidewinder SRAAM (2007) Contract not yet signed; AIM-9M version
   1000 GBU-39 SDB Guided bomb 2008 2008-2009 (500) $77 m deal
   (100) JDAM Guided bomb 2009 LJDAM version; delivery 2010

   Info on the JDAMs

3. Bunker Busters Shipped to Diego Garcia: Imminent Attack or Strategic Move?
   March 2010

4. OPLAN 1019 Arabian Gauntlet:

   If access to the Gulf were denied, assuming pipelines would flow at maximum capacity, the world would lose about one-fifth of its oil supply. Closure of the Strait of Hormuz would require use of longer alternate routes (if available) at increased transportation costs. Such routes include the 5 million-bbl/d capacity Petroline (East-West Pipeline) and the 290,000-bbl/d Abqaiq-Yanbu natural gas liquids line across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea. Theoretically, the 1.65-million bbl/d Iraqi Pipeline across Saudi Arabia (IPSA) also could be utilized, more oil could be pumped north to Ceyhan (Turkey), and the 0.5 million-bbl/d Tapline to Lebanon could be reactivated.

   A US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report of October 5, 2006 concluded that the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was “insufficient” to replace the oil lost from a severe supply disruption, including a global Iranian oil embargo, Strait of Hormuz closure, or a shutdown of the Saudi oil fields due to terrorism. The report noted that an Iranian embargo could cause oil prices to increase by $16 per barrel and up to $200 billion in GDP damage to the US economy, of which $132 billion could be offset by the SPR. A Saudi shutdown could cause $832 billion in damage to the US GDP, of which only $77 billion could be offset by the SPR. GAO estiamted that Strait of Hormuz closure could cause oil prices to increase by $175 per barrel.

   Some say it would be foolish for Iran to seek to disrupt oil traffic in the Gulf because all of its oil flows through the Gulf. The US Government doesn’t anticipate that Iran would try to do something like that because it would be the first victim of any such program.

5. The Demand of the Qualitative Edge

   Because of collusion between the imperial arms dealer and its subsidiary, weapons sales in the Middle East and beyond can be ratcheted up as Israel demands a qualitative edge over its neighbours. Arms are presently the US’s second largest export after tourism and will soon be its largest. What Israel wants it doesn’t necessarily get straight away, but what it does get and what it is rumoured that it is going to get puts pressure on Arab nations to match its military strength.

   The Middle East is militarised for the benefit of the few. Militarisation drives the sick empire’s flailing economy. Nearly every state in the US has military associated factories, making the military industry the most significant provider of jobs in the US.

   http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2009/07/08/Despite-splits-US-still-arms-Israel/UPI-35901247076940/?pvn=1

   Published: July 8, 2009

   ‘Indeed, Obama has endorsed a military aid package worth up to $30 billion, without conditions, over the next 10 years that was set up by the administration of President George W. Bush in 2007.

   That represents a 25 percent increase in the vast U.S. military and security assistance given to Israel during the Bush administration.

   With annual military aid of some $2 billion, Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. largesse in the world.’

   …

   Hence the huge $30 billion package for Israel, which should help keep production lines for the F-35 advanced stealth fighter and other big-ticket items going for a while.

   …

   Most of this military aid is simply a credit line to U.S. defense contractors since the money has to be spent on American systems.

   As it is, the Israelis were only marked down for a $30 billion package because the Bush administration wanted to provide a weapons package for the Arab states, mainly Saudi Arabia and its partners in the Gulf, amounting to $20 billion over 10 years.

   That, it said, was to bolster U.S. regional allies against an expansionist Iran. To do that meant giving Gulf states access to advanced technology that had largely been reserved for the Israelis.

   Thus Israel had to be kept sweet so it did not use its considerable clout in the U.S. Congress to block the proposed sales to the Arabs, as the Jewish state has done many times in the past to ensure its qualitative edge. ”

   ….

   “Instead of simply wanting Israel to have an adequate deterrent against potential military threats, Obama insists the United States should guarantee that Israel maintain a qualitative military edge,” Zunes added in an assessment published in Foreign Policy in Focus in March.

   “Thanks to this overwhelming advantage over its neighbors, Israeli forces were able to launch devastating wars against Israel’s Palestinian and Lebanese neighbors in recent years.”

   “In fiscal 2008, U.S. foreign military sales totaled $36 billion, 50 percent up on 2007. According to Frida Berrigan of the New America Foundation’s Arms and Security Initiative, sales in the first half of 2009 reached $27 billion and could hit $40 billion for the year.

   Some experts predict that over the next decade arms will be the single biggest U.S. export, with Israel taking a big chunk, such as up to 75 of the new F-35 stealth fighters.”

   That elusive qualititive edge, that pledge which JINSA says goes back to Israel’s grotesque creation to maintain its distorted pseudo statement and purposes – its own and others.

   http://uruknet.com/index.php?p=m61256&hd&size=1&l=e

   U.S.-Israeli Arms Cooperation Quietly Growing
   By Nathan Guttman
   December 19, 2009

   ‘A former senior security official in the Bush administration said Bush’s guidance to all levels was to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge. The ex-official, who would speak only on background, added that the arms sales to Gulf countries were done in light of the Arab world’s anxiety over Iran’s ambitions. “We saw it as a positive for all sides,” he said, adding Israel had no complaints against it “on the strategic level.”‘

   ‘According to Steve Rosen, a former lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who is now a private consultant, the Obama administration, and especially the Pentagon, is now more open to supplying Israel with cutting-edge technology in an attempt to ensure Israel’s confidence and possibly steer Jerusalem away from the idea of attacking Iran. “In an effort to give Israel a larger margin of safety, the U.S. is releasing technology that under other circumstances would have been seen as more sensitive,” he said.’

   ‘The United States and Israel have also recently launched a new consultative mechanism for discussing and addressing issues relating to Israel’s qualitative military edge. This new process, involving key officials from the Pentagon and State Department on the American side and Israel’s Foreign and Defense ministries, is currently being applied to several outstanding Israeli concerns. Israeli defense officials and pro-Israel activists characterize this as a significant development in strategic consultations between the two countries.

   America’s commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge was codified directly into U.S. law via 2008 legislation backed by AIPAC. This legislation requires the president to report to Congress periodically on actions taken by the administration to ensure Israel’s advantage. A spokeswoman for the House Foreign Affairs Committee told the Forward that the White House provided its first report to Congress this past summer. The report was classified, and no information regarding its content has been released.

   Long before the 2008 law, the Reagan administration promised that America would ensure Israel’s military advantage over its neighbors. And succeeding presidents have maintained this commitment. The commitment defined Israel’s strategic advantage as the difference between Israel’s military capabilities compared with each one of its Arab adversaries or with the combination of all adversaries.

   “Originally, it was Israel’s way to overcome its numeric inferiority,” said Guy Ben-Ari, deputy director of the defense-industrial initiatives group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He explained that the notion has been held up by both sides, despite the fact that Israel’s main military challenges — confronting terrorism and Iran’s nuclear threat — are not issues determined by the size of its military. The Israelis stressed that what happened during the close of Bush’s tenure was an erosion of Israeli’s military edge, not a breach of the Reagan era commitment.

   ‘Beyond correcting the perceived imbalance that developed under Bush, Israeli officials have also praised the Obama administration for increasing cooperation about missile defense. A November joint American-Israeli exercise, codenamed Juniper Cobra, was the largest and most extensive missile defense dry run ever held, and involved 1,400 American servicemen simulating responses to a possible attack against Israel. “The size and the high profile [of the exercise] are a signal from the administration about its commitment to Israel’s security,” an Israeli diplomat said.

   Another deal that is highly anticipated in Israel is the expected sale of the advanced F-35 fighter jets to Israel’s air force. The Pentagon has offered Israel a unique version of the radar-evading future aircraft for supply in 2015. A deal is expected to be signed early next year.’

   http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Israel_can_use_stockpiled_US_arms_999.html
   Israel can use stockpiled U.S. arms
   Jan 19, 2009

   ‘The U.S. Army is reportedly building up stockpiles of missiles, armored vehicles, artillery shells and other equipment in Israel that the Israelis will be allowed to use in an emergency.’

   ‘These efforts are also seen as an attempt by the Obama administration to reassure Israel that the Americans will support them in a confrontation with Iran — though not necessarily with combat forces — and to encourage the Jewish state not to launch unilateral air and missile strikes at Iran’s nuclear facilities.’

   ‘n 2008 the Pentagon also installed a strategic long-range X-band radar system at Nevatim air base in the Negev Desert south of Tel Aviv. It can detect incoming missiles from hundreds of miles away.

   At the time Juniper Cobra was being held, there were reports that the Americans would leave several Patriot PAC-3 air-defense systems behind once the maneuvers ended.

   It is not clear whether they are included in the reported increase in U.S. stockpiles.

   The expansion of these stockpiles emerged amid a heightening of tension with Iran, as a U.S.-led dialogue with Tehran appeared to flounder after four months of tortuous negotiations that have failed to produce any concrete agreement by Iran to curb its nuclear program.’

   ‘n the 34-day 2006 war with Hezbollah, Israeli stocks of air force bombs and artillery ammunition were seriously depleted, almost to what the army deemed a critical level.

   According to Defense News, the current buildup “is the final phase of a process that began over a year ago to determine the type and amount of U.S. weapons and ammunition to be stored in Israel.”

   That, it added, was “part of an overarching American effort to stockpile weapons in areas in which its army may need to operate, while allowing American allies to make use of the ordnance in emergencies.”

   The United States began stockpiling $100 million in military equipment in Israel in 1990.’

   http://www.uruknet.info/?p=63150
   US’ Expanded Weapons Stockpiling in Israel
   Nora Barrows-Friedman

   ‘An anonymous US defense official stated that Washington believes that “[American] economics and inflation were taking their toll on the Israel-based prepositioning,” thereby limiting – in relative terms – the procurement of weapons caches by the Israeli government, up until this point.

   Missiles, armored vehicles, aerial ammunition and artillery ordnance have already been stockpiled in Israel since the US Congress began expanding their “forward basing” program in 1990. South Korea remains a US ally state enjoying a similar agreement with the US government. Opall-Rome wrote that American stockpile value in Israel began with “a starting ceiling of $100 million that quickly grew to $300 million following the 1991 war in Iraq … Under the new agreement, Israel not only gains access to more US stockpiles, but enjoys greater latitude in the categories and specific types of weaponry it can request for in-country storage.”

   Raytheon, a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a prime contractor for US-administered arms deals with Israel. Among Raytheon’s arsenal of unconventional weapons is the 2.2-ton GBU 28 “bunker-buster,” “mini-nuke” bomb that was used against Iraq in 1991, and swiftly dispatched to Israel during the height of the 2006 attacks against Lebanon. The weapon can blast through 100 feet of earth and 20 feet of solid concrete. Raytheon’s spokesperson refused to answer Truthout’s questions regarding its expanding relationship with Israel. His response to a query about Raytheon’s possible contribution of arsenal to this $800 million stockpiling agreement was a curt “no comment,” and he told Truthout to “ask the US government” about further details.

   Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich told Truthout that there is no oversight process toward which specific weapons will be part of stockpiling deals with Israel. “There is no monitoring,” he said. He noted that these weapons stockpiling agreements send a worrisome message to the people in the region. “What’s troubling is the pullback from serious diplomatic initiatives … and the reliance on weapons to solve what are really diplomatic issues. There’s no doubt that there is some strategic consideration at work. And there is the fact that several US administrations now have failed to enforce the Arms Export Control Act. The policies are not consonant with peace,” he continued. “They’re consonant with war. ”

   In the December 2009 Congressional Research Report to Congress, prepared for US representatives preceding their vote in the House to approve funding for such programs, it is pointed out that Israel was designated in 1998 as a “major non-NATO ally,” which “qualifies” the state to receive excess defense articles under Section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act and Section 23(a) of the Arms Export Control Act.’

   ‘his move to double American weaponry and military equipment stockpiles on Israeli soil comes on the heels of Obama’s recent signing of a $30 billion, ten-year agreement for an expanded military aid package to the Israeli government. The first installment of the aid package, $2.775 billion, was signed over in December by President Obama, and was earmarked completely for Israel’s military budget instead of the prior allocation to both civilian and military infrastructure. This massive military package is over and above the annual $3.1 billion in loan guarantees to Israel that the Obama administration plans to continue.

   As a part of the ten-year agreement, Israel is required to contract 75 percent of the package toward the purchase of American-made military equipment and ammunition, intended to further subsidize US weapons manufacturers. This arrangement was conceived by the Bush administration and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and was designed, Berrigan explained, to “lock in” the US-Israeli military relationship, tying the hands of the forthcoming US administration. “This benefits only the American weapons manufacturers,” she said, “and it sets the Obama administration up with a solid framework which Israel sought out and insisted on ahead of time. Once again, the United States was eager to comply.”

   Meanwhile, as US-led wars in the region proliferate, this expansion of weapons stockpiles in Israel will surely be viewed as a growing threat to neighboring countries. “If we’re forward-basing [for the wars in] Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” former high-level CIA analyst Ray McGovern told Truthout, “the Iranians, the Russians and the Chinese will be worried. With this policy, we’re alienating so many people.”

   ‘Berrigan said that, within this context, it is important to question the strategic interest that the United States has in maintaining a close military partnership with Israel. “The relationship with Israel is not helping us win the hearts and ‘

   ‘At the same time as it claims a shortage of ammunition and equipment, while receiving several billions of US taxpayer dollars for its military budget, Israel is currently preparing the launch of what officials are calling the “Iron Dome” system, reportedly capable of intercepting short-range artillery shells and homemade rockets along the northern border with Lebanon and the southern borders with the occupied Gaza strip. According to Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the system will be integrated into the Israeli military by this summer. That project is reported to cost at least $215 million.

   Habeeb of Gaza, however, remains extremely worried about this new era of weapons proliferation plans between Israel and the US. “Israel already has enough weapons to destroy the whole world,” he said. “As a Palestinian, I thought Obama would send us the results of his change, which was peace. Instead, we get missiles.”‘

   http://www.uruknet.info/?p=63789
   Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation
   by Stephen Lendman
   March 2, 2010

   ‘In November 2008, Shirl McArthur of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA) used Congressional Research Report (CRS) data for a “Conservative Estimate of Total Direct US Aid to Israel” since 1949, saying it’s almost $114 billion, but explaining that determining the exact figure is impossible since parts are buried in various agency budgets, mostly the Defense Department’s (DOD) or in forms not easily quantifiable.

   He states:

   “It must be emphasized that this analysis is a conservative, defensible accounting of US direct aid to Israel, NOT of Israel’s cost to the US or the American taxpayer, not of the benefits to Israel of US aid. The distinction is important, because the indirect or consequential costs suffered by the US as a result of its blind support for Israel exceed by many times the substantial amount of direct aid” provided.’

   On July 9, 2009, HR 3160 was introduced, the Israeli Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act, 2010. The bill was referred to committee and awaits further action.

   Recent possible military sales include:

   * on September 29, 2008, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with associated equipment and training, a deal, if consummated, worth up to $15.2 billion; Israel wants up to 75 depending on the cost; negotiations continue, but reported disagreement was reported over its right to customize aircraft to its needs and the final per plane cost, from $100 – $200 million depending on the degree of customization;
   * on September 9, 2008, Patriot Missile Fire Unit upgrades, 1,000 GBU-39 small diameter guided bombs, and 28,000 M72A7 light anti-armor weapons, in total worth about $330 million; Israel already has US-supplied Hawk and Patriot missiles as well as its own defense systems; since 1988, both countries have been developing the Arrow Anti-Missile system, a weapon with theater ballistic missile capability; Arrow became operational in 2000; Arrow II is designed to deter longer-range conventional ballistic missiles, and other systems are under development, including Arrow III;
   * on July 30, 2008, nine C-130 J-30 aircraft with associated equipment and training, worth up to $1.9; billion; and
   * on July 15, 2008, four Littoral combat ships, worth up to $1.9 billion, and JP-8 aviation jet fuel worth up to $1.3 billion; in 2009, Israel declined to purchase these ships over cost concerns.

   American Israeli aid began in 1949 with a $100 million Export-Import Bank loan and continued modestly for the next two decades. In 1962, Israel bought its first advanced weapons system, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles. In 1968, a year after the Six Day War, the Johnson administration assured Israel’s regional military superiority. Since 1970, large-scale aid followed. In 1971, it was $545 million, and by 1974 Israel became America’s largest aid recipient, two-thirds for military purposes.

   After the 1979 Camp David Accords and Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, Washington gave both sides $7.5 billion under the 1979 Special International Security Assistance Act, allocated 3-2 favoring Israel. Thereafter, regular and emergency economic and military aid followed. Today, Israeli allocations far exceed amounts given Egypt or any other nation.

   In 1985, Congress appropriated special economic assistance of $1.5 billion under terms of a US-Israel Joint Economic Development Group (JEDG), calling for neoliberal reforms and empowering Israel’s Finance Ministry and national Bank.

   Washington and Tel Aviv colluded for two goals:

   – balancing Israel’s budget; and

   – cutting wages, prices, credit, public benefits, pensions, and the currency’s value as well as curbing union power and establishing an exploitable temporary worker market.

   It began Israel’s race to the bottom by mass privatizations, welfare and social benefit cuts, and wealth shifted to the top as in America, the result being growing Jewish poverty, hunger and homelessness to the present.

   In 1985, all US military aid became grants, what began for economic aid in 1981. Thereafter, generous supplemental aid followed, including after the Gulf and 2003 Iraq wars. The FY 2003 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act included $9 billion in loan guarantees over three years and $1 billion in military grants. Other amounts came earlier. They’ve continued ever since, some open, others covert, affording Israel exclusive preferential treatment.

   http://www.jinsa.org/node/1337
   JINSA
   25/3/10

   What Obama has been doing on the quiet, according to JINSA.

   http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136660

   ‘The report revealed that the White House has so far blocked key weapons projects and upgrades for Israel, rejecting requests for AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters while approving advanced F-16 multi-role fighters for Egypt.’

   OK, so we have the latest arms deals:

   http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1159155.html

   ‘three new Hercules C-130J airplanes. The deal for the three aircrafts, designed by Lockheed Martin, is worth roughly a quarter billion dollars. Each aircraft costs $70 million…. See more

   The aircrafts were manufactured specifically for Israeli needs, and include a large number of systems produced by Israel’s defense industry.

   The deal will be covered by American foreign assistance funds.’

   ‘America and Israel have still not reached an agreement regarding the purchase of the Lockheed F-35 war plane. It is still not clear when that deal, which is estimated to be worth more than $3 billion, will finally be sealed and carried out.’

   In February this year we have the US increasing its stockpiles in Israel.

   http://www.truthout.org/us-expanded-weapons-stockpiling-israel56700

   ‘Now, a year later, Israel and the United States have agreed to a weapons stockpiling deal that will store $800 million worth of American-made arms and military equipment on Israeli soil.’

   ‘According to a January 11 report in the weekly paper Defense News, the Obama administration previously mapped out a plan that would place $400 million worth of military arsenal in Israel, but that project was exactly doubled after a meeting in December between the Israeli military’s technology and logistics branch, and Rear Adm. Andy Brown, logistics director of the US Army European Command.’

   Israel might be the largest extra-US weapons dump on the planet – putting paid to any theories that it has no strategic military value to the US.

   ‘Included in this agreement is the caveat that Israel, after approval from the US government, would be able to access the American weapon and ammunition stockpile in case of a military “emergency.” The terms and definition of such an “emergency,” including against whom the weaponry could be used, remain unclear.’

   Then JINSA cries poor. Any other explanation except for what seems obviously a barely obscured coordinated military buildup?

   I’m going to have to search through the defence papers to see what actually fell into Israel’s paws last year.

   Lockheed C130 Hercules -‘Currently, the Hercules primarily performs the intratheater portion of the tactical airlift mission. This medium-range aircraft is capable of operating from rough, dirt strips and is the prime transport for paratroop and equipment drops into hostile areas.’

   Range is 2,047 nm (3,791km) with max payload; 4,522 nm (8,375km) empty

   Distance from Israel to Iran 1250 miles,… See more

   http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/c130_specs.asp

   http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136660

   s the US Eroding Israel’s Qualitative Edge?

   by Avi Yellin

   The Institute reports that over the last year, the Obama administration has refused to approve any major Israeli weapons requests. Government sources asserted that the refusal represents a new White House policy to link arms sales to the Jewish state with the Netanyahu government’s willingness to submit on Washington’s demands that Israel surrender Judea, Samaria and most of Jerusalem to the American-backed Palestinian Authority.

   Key weapons denied
   The report revealed that the White House has so far blocked key weapons projects and upgrades for Israel, rejecting requests for AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters while approving advanced F-16 multi-role fighters for Egypt. Israel has meanwhile refrained from objecting to American plans to sell F-16s, Harpoon Block 2 anti-ship missiles, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, fast attack craft and helicopters to the Egyptians. In addition to the advanced weapons sold to Egypt, Washington has also approved more than $10 billion worth of arms sales to Arab League states, including Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

   “Indeed, Israel’s request for six AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters was blocked by the Obama Administration in June — the same time the Egyptian sale was approved,” the JINSA report stated.

   According to the report, the failure to sponsor Israel’s qualitative edge, which violates a pledge given more than 40 years ago to maintain Israel’s military superiority over its neighbors, began not with Obama but under the previous administration of President George W. Bush. “The concept of the Qualitative Military Edge failed to keep up with the changes in U.S. arms sales and training policy over the decades.” Israel has to now stay ahead through other means.

   A major U.S. policy shift came in 2004, when the Bush Administration needed Gulf Arab help for the American-led invasion of Iraq – particularly after Turkey denied Bush entrance into Iraq from the north – and wanted to bolster Washington’s influence and ability to deal with regional problems.

   JINSA dismissed Israeli government claims that the White House was ready to address the erosion of Israel’s defensive capabilities. The Institute said the January 2010 visit by U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones did not concern the Washington’s pledge to Israel’s qualitative military edge but was to push Israel into making further concessions to the Fatah-led PA.

   According to the report, the U.S. aid to Arab states has hampered Israeli military cooperation with Washington. More than 20 years ago, the Israel Air Force stopped participating in American sponsored regional exercises in order to prevent the leakage of combat tactics.

   —————
   http://www.jinsa.org/node/1337
   CENTCOM, Gen. Petraeus and Israel

   Obama Administration Continues to Supply Israel with Advanced Weapons
   http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m65823&hd&size=1&l=e

   The Military Industrial Complex is Ruining the Economy
   http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/01/military-industrial-compex-is-ruining.html

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