ISRAELI TECH HELPS US COMBAT TROOPS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
http://geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/cuttingedge.html
Israeli tech credited with protecting U.S. troops, combat aircraft
WASHINGTON — A senior senator said the Defense Department has contracted for Israeli technology that was protecting U.S. ground units in campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The senator said the Israeli technology was more effective than anything else deployed by the U.S. military.
“If you look at some of the things that we have, they have been credited with saving more lives from RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] in Iraq than anything else,” Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, said. “This is Israeli technology that you are sharing with us.”
In an address to the Jerusalem Conference on Nov. 3, Inhofe, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, cited the Litening air pod, Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle and armored tiles for U.S. combat vehicles. He said the tiles, developed by Israel’s state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, were saving the lives of American troops.
Rafael also produces Litening, a combat navigation air pod that has been installed on virtually every U.S. fighter-aircraft. Northrop Grumman has been the prime contractor of the Litening program in the United States.
The Hunter was produced by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. Northrop has also been working with the U.S. Army in developing and maintaining the Hunter.
Inhofe’s identification of Litening and Hunter as Israeli systems contrasted with that of Northrop and the U.S. military. The two platforms have not been publicly linked to Israeli companies.
Rafael has been supplying armored tiles for the U.S.-origin Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The project has been led by General Dynamics for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Another major Israeli project was the armoring of the M-ATV combat vehicle for the U.S. Army. Israel’s Plasan Sasa has been the prime subcontractor in a multi-billion-dollar deal to armor more than 5,000 M-ATVs for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Inhofe told the conference that many Americans were under the misconception that the Israeli-U.S. defense relationship was based on American arms sales. He said the relationship was mutual, and that U.S. arms sales to Israel were in Washington’s interests.
“When we send C-130s and Apaches to Israel, we are not doing it for Israel, we are doing it for us,” Inhofe said.
http://geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/cuttingedge.html
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