TEL AVIV – A three-time former Israeli defense minister and principal driver behind the long-defunct US-Israel Lavi program insists it is not too late to revive the Israeli-designed fighter to compete against the French Rafale in India.
In a commentary published Dec. 2 in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Moshe Arens said the fighter designed by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) "is potentially a more capable aircraft than the Rafale," and could be more attractive particularly if significant technology transfer to India is part of the competitive bid.
According to Arens, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington and one-time vice president at IAI, Israel's largest defense and aerospace firm, has never recovered from the 1987 decision to terminate the joint program.
Citing Israel's well-established presence in the Indian defense market and IAI's experience in complex joint development programs with New Delhi, Arens urged IAI management to seize the initiative against Dassault Aviation, producers of the Rafale.
"Does the IAI management dare to grasp this opportunity? Has IAI recovered from the near-fatal blow it received 27 years ago when the Lavi project was cancelled, just as it was entering its flight test phase of development?" Arens wrote.
The Dec. 2 commentary is the latest in a string of published writings and public addresses by Arens going back decades.
Last year around this time, Arens took IAI to task for not competing Lavi for a growing part of the market now claimed by Brazil's Embraer.
Arens is the most relentless and public crusader for the single-engine, delta-winged fighter that became both a symbol of national pride and a source of acrimony between and within the US and Israeli governments.
But many here quietly share his longing for an Israeli-produced fighter.
"He doesn't give up. I have enormous respect for his tenacity," said a former Lavi program official who now holds a very senior executive position in the Israeli industry.
"It's hard to put this to rest, when we were so close to producing what, at the time, was universally acknowledged as a world-class fighter," the executive said.
In a Dec. 2 interview, an IAI executive said the company could not possibly revive the Lavi program.
"As sad as it is, we must be realistic. This issue is moot; and I've told this to [Arens] many times."
The Lavi program began in 1980 as a low-cost, low-end replacement to Israel's aging A-4 and Kfir ground attack aircraft, but was redesigned in 1982 to more closely mimic performance of what was then the General Dynamics F-16.
After years of rampant cost growth, high profile lobbying for and against the project, and intense diplomatic strain, the program was killed by a 12-11 vote in the Israeli Cabinet.
Washington invested more than $2 billion in the program. After it was terminated, Congress appropriated significant increases in annual aid levels, which Israel used to underwrite multiyear procurement of the F-16. ■
Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com.
