TEL AVIV: The fragile coalition that forms the Israeli cabinet is delaying the decisions on huge arms deals with American companies, mainly Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
“The chaos in the cabinet has put the urgent need for some critical defense platforms on ice. This is something that should not happen in a country like Israel that can be forced into a major war at any minute,” a senior source that talked with BD on condition of anonymity said.
As reported by BD the cabinet must decide on the following issues: the purchase of additional F-35 and F-15 IAs, the purchase of a replacement for the aging CH-53, and the KC-46A to replace the aging 707’s that serve as aerial refueling aircraft in the IAF.
The main disagreements are between the finance minister, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, and Defense Minister Beny Gantz, who is the alternative prime minster planned to take office in Nov. 2021.
In addition sources claim that the public and parliamentary demand to form an investigation committee to clarify Netanyahu’s role in the purchase of additional submarines from Germany is also a “card” in this power play.
Gantz floated the idea to establish a Defense Ministry committee on Thursday to investigate the so-called “Submarine Affair.”
He was referring to an ongoing scandal involving a multi-billion submarine deal with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp AG conglomerate in 2016, also dubbed Case 3000, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly played a role.
Prosecutors allege that senior Israeli officials were bribed to advocate for the purchase of submarines and military boats from Thyssenkrupp. The scandal involves the sale of Dolphin-class submarines and anti-submarine warships by Germany to Egypt, allegedly approved by Netanyahu without informing the Defense Ministry.
This political chaos is intensified by the fact that Israel has no state budget for 2021 as the result of the political disagreements in what is called the “emergency coalition cabinet” formed to deal with the pandemic.
And to complicate things, officials in the Israeli Finance Ministry warned that basing the planned procurement on the current and future FMF agreement with the U.S is “a shaky basis”
The current $38 billion FMF agreement will expire in 2028. “No one can guarantee that a new FMF agreement will be signed and that is in a time when Israel will have to pay for big parts of the planned procurement” the sources said.
Not everything is on ice, apparently. The Defense Ministry did decide to to give priority to the purchase of 10 more F-35s before making a decision on an F-15 IA purchase. Sources told BD that this decision was made in response to a request from the F-35 Joint Program Office that wants Israel to exercise an option included in the first contract for 50 F-35 to keep the production line busy.A first meeting of a cabinet procurement committee that was planned for last week has been delayed indefinitely.
Lockheed and Boeing have been trying to get things moving in Israel, but with no success.
The decision to first purchase 10 additional F-35 was made by Amir Eshel, director general of the Israeli ministry of defense. Eshel is the former commander of the Air Force and understands the need to fulfill the options that are part of the initial F-35 contract.
BD asked for comments from the main offices involved with the arms purchases, but was met with “no comment.”
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