JERUSALEM, 14 January 2008 — The United States has agreed in principle to provide Israel with better “smart bombs” than those it plans to sell to Gulf states under a regional defense package, senior Israeli security sources said yesterday.
The Bush administration last year proposed supplying Gulf states with some $20 billion in new weapons, including joint direct attack munition (JDAM) bomb kits.
The plan has angered Israel’s backers in Washington, who say the JDAMs, which give satellite guidance for bombs, may one day be used against the Jewish state or at least blunt its power to deter potential foes. Israel has had JDAMs since 1990 and has used them extensively in a 2006 offensive in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government dropped its objections to the proposed Gulf defense deal in July after securing US military aid grants worth $30 billion over the next decade.
Two Israeli security sources said the United States further mollified the Olmert government with an “understanding in principle” that future JDAM sales to Israel would include advanced technologies not on offer to the Gulf states.
“We are checking which of the top-of-the-line JDAMs will become available to us. The agreement is that Israel’s qualitative edge will be preserved,” one source said.
The spokesman for the US Embassy in Tel Aviv could not immediately be reached for comment.
Shlomo Dror, spokesman for Israel’s Defense Ministry, declined to give details on any specific defense deals, saying only: “The Americans are certainly taking steps to help us preserve our technological superiority.”
Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, suggested Israel might be interested in American innovations aimed at making JDAMs immune to jamming attempts.
“The great unspoken fear is that you can come up against an enemy who knows what he is doing when it comes to countermeasures,” Hewson said. He added that Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East believed to have JDAMs.
Israel used JDAMs extensively in its 2006 offensive against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. Surprise setbacks in the 34-day war prompted Israel’s top brass to order an overhaul of the armed forces.
