Thursday, February 13, 2003
The US and Israel have signed a letter of intent outlining the terms of Israel's participation in the development of the next-generation Joint Strike Fighter due to be completed by 2012. Israel will pay tens of millions of dollars over the next several years for the right to participate and purchase the planes.[...]
Some European partners in the program had resisted full Israeli participation. Israel last year was also late in applying for participation in the project, complicating the talks.
As a result, the US and Israel worked out a special bilateral security cooperation deal. Israel will be designated a "security cooperation participant" in the JSF program. Eight countries are already collaborating with the US.
Under the terms of the agreement, Israel will be barred from partner discussions during development, but will have full input via the US, sources said.[...]
Sounds cool, but if I read this correctly, the Europeans don't want to be seen as talking to the Israelis directly, so they'll pursue some fiction where Israel will talk to the US, and the US will talk to everyone else. Nice. Well, we wouldn't want any EU states to jeopardize any of their oil contacts by being seen in the same room as the Jews would we?
Well, let's not be all negative. Sounds like an interesting project.
