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Originally Posted by SHERMAN with due respect Lavi was an israeli desighn and not an american one. that was exactly the reason USA put pressure on Israel to cancel the project and keep buying F-16s... |
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Not all of it. It was not a 100% Isreali designed. The engines for example were Pratt and Whitney PW2110 and the weapons systems too were US (and French). The Isrealis and Chinese didnt have the savoir faire to build its own engines at that time. Furthermore the US paid for the Lavi's development...over $1 Billion.
A March 1992 report by State Department inspector general Sherman Funk, "Report of Audit: Department of State Defense Trade Controls", states that alleged Israeli violations of US laws and regulations "cited and supported by reliable intelligence information show a systematic and growing pattern of unauthorized transfers ... dating back to about 1983". http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=357
And the same thing was done with chips for the Patriot missile, there is this nasty habit of US technology making its way to China through Isreal.
I am sorry but to attempt to sell the technology that someone else paid for to an enemy of that country is beyond the pale, especially when its done repetitively. I'd also point out that Isreal, after Russia, provides most of Chinas arms imports. Now I won't tell Isreal not to sell arms to China, because the US is hardly the one to being giving lectures on that subject, but at least dont use our tech and our money to do it.