Israel’s Receipt of F-35 Provides Background for Aid Talks

Israel’s receipt of the first of 33 F-35 stealth fighter jets coming at a time in which attention is focused on negotiations for a new 10-year US military aid package provides a virtual show-and-tell of the long-standing alliance between the two nations. A number of countries contributed to the plane’s design and construction, Israel contributing the wings and the technological showpiece of the project: the pilot’s helmet which provides more tactical abilities than any before it. As with the Arrow anti-missile system, joint research and American funding has achieved remarkable success on the battlefield. With Israel requesting a “robust” increase in aid beyond the $3 billion it has received annually for the past 10-years, the American administration and lawmakers are saying that the United States cannot afford to expand its largesse beyond the almost $4 billion the new agreement calls for. The Israelis, meanwhile, are taking advantage of the publicity generated by its receipt of the F-35s to argue that while the level of military aid Israel receives is unmatched by any other aid recipient, the mutual US-Israel “bang-for-the-buck” that comes from funding Israeli R & D is also unmatched, and most of the funding has to be spent in the United States, a benefit for American businesses.