SBIRS missile detection satellite
TEL AVIV: The United States, pressed by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz In Washington last week, will grant Israel direct access to highly classified satellites such as the missile detection birds known as SBIRS and ensure Israel gets critical defense platforms in a very short time by using production slots planned for the U.S armed forces.
Israeli sources say that the agreement guarantees Israel’s supremacy for decades to come. “I can say that the agreement is something that will help keep Israel safe,” one source told me.
As an indicator of just how rapidly events are moving, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper will arrive here on Thursday and is scheduled to meet with Gantz
A few days before Gantz’s visit, the director general of the Ministry of Defense, Amir Eshel, went to the United States himself and joined Israeli teams already operating there who formulated all the clauses of the compensation package for Israel following the announcement of the possible sale of the F-35 to the Emirates.
Those who were in the negotiating rooms between Israel and the United States describe a very high commitment to Israel by their US counterparts.
According to Nir Dvori, senior defense correspondent for Israel’s N-12 news website and channel 12 TV, the shock in the defense establishment from the F-35 deal to the Emirates led to the new agreement with the United States.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, as Breaking D readers know, secretly approved the F-35 sale to UAE and did not tell the defense establishment.
Israeli F-35Is
According to Dvori, Defense Secretary Benny Gantz learned that negotiations were being concealed from him only after an official announcement by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner about the deal.
Israeli defense sources told BD that Ganz decided to act quickly to preserve Israel’s qualitative edge. After the official American announcement, he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and told him that he wanted to send Defense Ministry staff to Washington to work with their American counterparts in the Pentagon to formulate a compensation package to ensure Israel’s military qualitative edge. This includes very sensitive intelligence and operational collaborations for Israel and the United States.
Israel must replace some of its platforms, especially heavy helicopters. An Israeli defense source who talked with BD on condition of anonymity said that while the focus is on the early delivery of aerial platforms, the agreement signed last week gives Israel “additional” benefits that are crucial for reserving the Israeli qualitative military edge (QME).
The agreement will allow Israel to purchase some “very special ” weapon systems that are not manufactured by Israel. For example, it looks as if Israeli will get “deeper access to the core avionic systems of the F-35…Our source, who spoke on condition of anonymity “cannot confirm that it is in the written agreement. It can be said that an understating has been reached in relation with that issue.”
Better access to the stealth fighter’s core avionics is a crucial point for Israel in the face of likely sales to the UAE and other Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told the media that sooner or later they will ask for and receive the F-35.
Once the ban on selling the F-35 to Arab states is broken, the queue is expected to get longer.
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