Tim Ripley
A battle royal is developing between US giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin to win a $2.5-billion Israeli fighter order - lilaly the last big fighter contest of the century.
Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak has put back until August the decision on buying more than 50 fighters for the Israeli air force. Lockheed Martin is offering the latest Block 50 plus version of the F-16 Fighting Falcon and Boeing is proposing derivatives of the F-15E Strike Eagle.
Political manoeuvrings are now well under way as the Israelis try to strike the best deal with their two order-hungry suitors.
Contacts
Incumbent Defence Minister Moshe Arens visited Forth Worth and St Louis last month and high level contacts are expected during the Paris air show. The veteran Israeli politician is expected to play a key role in brokering any deal, prior to Barak's assuming the defence portfolio when he eventually forms a government.
Lockheed Martin thinks it is ahead of the game so far after the Israeli air force publicly declared it wanted to buy only F-16s. It certainly appeared to steal a lead on Boeing yesterday (Sunday) when it signed an agreement with Israeli electronic warfare specialists Elisra under which they have committed to pursue future sales on the F-16 and "develop a common platform for future F-16 opportunities."
Marketing director George Standridge says that the ability of Lockheed Martin to tailor its product to suit customers requirements was the key to the F-16's success. The company has offered to sell the Israelis 50 aircraft, with an option for another 50. Israel has been operating F-16s since the early 1980s.
"However you want our F-16, you can have it," says Standridge. "The bottom line at Lockheed Martin is about offering customer choice. You can have two different engines, four or five different radars, three or four electronic warfare suites and in essence can carry every weapon in the US inventory and many international weapons."
Proposal
Boeing spokesman Tom Downey says the company's proposal was still on the table and it was up to Israelis to make their decision. "This will be based on their needs," he says. Options include purchasing F-15s only, or a mixture of F-16s and F-15s.
Israel already operates 25 strike versions of the F-15, designated the F-15I, and Downy says the aircraft has been well received.
"After they were delivered they went into service much sooner than expected, only six months after they arrived," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
