Posted on 05/04/2010 9:16:33 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
As Hezbollah builds up its rocket arsenal, Israel has asked Washington to help pay for more Iron Dome anti-missile batteries to shield the Jewish state.
The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli Defense Ministry wants to buy more than a dozen batteries of the system designed to counter short-range missiles fired by the Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrillas and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The ministry had allocated $250 million for the development of the system, the bottom layer of a planned three-tier missile defense shield, and the purchase of two batteries.
Each Iron Dome battery costs around $25 million, so buying an extra dozen would total at least $300 million, possibly more. That would be on top of the $3 billion Israel gets in U.S. military aid every year.
Iron Dome, built by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, employs an advanced radar, made by Elta Systems, that locates hostile rocket launches and tracks the projectiles for a kinetic interceptor called the Tamir.
The system can determine which missiles will miss military positions or civilian targets and ignores them to focus on those with more dangerous trajectories.
The Jerusalem Post said the ministry has also approached the U.S. Department of Defense for additional assistance to fund the project.
The Pentagon provided the bulk of an estimated $2 billion required to develop the more powerful Arrow missile, which is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles at high altitude and long range.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
In the US, we too have massive immigration, mostly from Central America. And we are 3 Trillion dollars in debt. Someday we and our allies will have to understand there is a limit to how much we can do for them.
3 Billion a year in aid is a big reason the boys from Iroquois territory think they have a perfect right to jerk Israel around! To be fair, lots of Republicans think so too.
Keep in mind the “3 billion in aide” is now largely loan guarantees so Israel can buy US-made equipment, which lowers the price-per-unit of the same equipment for the USA.
And also note Israel has paid every penny of those loans back, with interest.
Compare and contrast to France.
Compare and contrast to Greece.
I’m happy to take it, but it’s peanuts.
There was no name attached to the article.
A perfectly good example, then.
Partnership, not Welfare.
I did not know that. I am in favor of such an arrangement, as I believe Israel needs all the help it can get. And I hope US nuclear armed submarines are standing by in the Mediterranian when the going get rough.
God bless Israel and its people.
http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=174451
I believe this is the original article. The reporter is YAAKOV KATZ.
I am a cynic when it comes to reporters, UPI,AP and Reuters and all news articles absent the reporter’s name.
That may be the way news is reported, but I prefer to check the person behind the report to decide how the lean.
We know most are leftist, would rather fall in the ocean without a raft than give an unbiased, true report on any subject.
With that philosophy you will be eliminating most of the posts here since most articles have no authors
BTW, I was not criticizing you or your posting the article.
My distrust is of the media.
Sorry I didn't make that clear in previous posts.
You are not alone in your mistrust of the media.
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