U.S. pushed Israel out of F-35 development because of China ties- Israeli executives

4/18/2005 6:55:00 AM GMT

Israeli defence industry executives said Sunday that the U.S. defence officials froze Israel out of the development of a prestigious jet fighter as a sort of punishment for Tel Aviv’s military cooperation with China.

Israel was one of the main participants in the development of Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-35m, priced at US$55 million each and viewed as the American aircraft of the future. The plane is designed to combine supersonic speed with stealth technology at relatively bargain-basement prices.

Washington’s decision was because of it’s to displeasure over Israel’s arms deals with China, including its work on Harpy unmanned drones, acquired by China from state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries in the early 1990s, the Israeli defence industry executives said conditions of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The U.S. believes that the Harpys could be used by China to invade Taiwan, which Washington had previously pledged to defend.

U.S. officials didn’t comment immediately on the Israeli executives’ comments.

Also the Israeli Defense Ministry neither confirmed or denied the report. "We are in the midst of a dialogue with the United States and hope that within its framework understandings will be reached soon," a ministry spokeswoman said.

And while the American defense officials say that parts of the Harpy drones were shipped to Israel last year for an upgrade of their capability to locate and destroy enemy radar installations, Israel says that the Harpy units were undergoing routine maintenance.

Israeli officials say that the U.S. anger is mainly focused on Israeli Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron, whom the Pentagon accuses of duplicity in covering up the extent of Israeli-Chinese military ties.

According to analysts of Chinese military development, Washington is doing all it can to prevent China from acquiring equipment it may use in invading Taiwan.

Recently, the White House has been warning European countries not to lift a boycott on China arms sales, imposed in 1989.

The National People's Congress, China's rubber stamp parliament, passed a resolution earlier this year which authorizes the use of force against Taiwan if it declared itself an independent state.

The self-governing island split from China in 1949 at the end of a protracted civil war.