In the days ahead, Ministry of Defense director general Mag. Gen. (res.) Amos Yaron will decide whether to permit Rafael (Israel's Armaments Development Authority) and US concern Lockheed-Martin to manufacture air-to-air missile Python-4 in the US, "Globes" has learnt.
This means that IDF Directorate of Defense R&D head Mag. Gen. Itzhak Ben-Israel's opposition to manufacturing the missile in the US will be overruled.
The Ministry of Defense director general's position sparked optimism among industrial quarters close to the Rafael-Lockheed Martin venture. They rejected the IDF Directorate of Defense R&D head's argument that moving the production line to Troy, Alabama, is liable to lead to leakage of know-how. According to the industrialists, air-to-ground missile Popeye is being jointly manufactured in the US without leakage of know-how.
Lockheed-Martin general manager for Israel Joshua Shani today said that failure to permit manufacture in the US would be tantamount to a breach of the contract signed with Rafael and the Ministry of Defense, and whose linchpin was manufacture in the US. "It's possible to work out a solution for preventing a brain drain", Shani said. "We disagree with Ben-Israel's position. Python-4 is ripe for manufacture in the US. This will make it easier for the Israel Air force to buy it with US military aid funds, and boost Rafael and Lockheed-Martin business-wise. If missile sales are prevented from going up, they will go down. We're awaiting clarifications from the Ministry of Defense".
"It's impossible to argue with good precedents", sources close to the venture said. "The approval of expanded cooperation on Python-4 is about to be finalized. Ben-Israel is disrupting the process. Just look at the way things are being done in the US, where there are more restrictions, more bureaucracy, and far more security measures regarding the defense industries".
Ben-Israel said he "had been compelled' to approve Popeye's manufacture in the US. He made it clear to all concerned that moving the Python-4 production line to the US would be "a tremendous mistake". Ben-Israel claimed that manufacturing missiles in the US amounts to "a declaration by Israel that it has decided to forego its know-how and development centers." According to Ben-Israel, this is "a social, economic, and security issue of the highest order".
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 21 March, 2000