U.S. sells 80 F-16s to UAE with better radar and weapons systems than those
sold to Israel

By Amnon Barzilai - Ha'aretz Defense Correspondent - Ha'aretz 6 March 2000

[IMRA: It should be noted that while on a formal basis, the USA is
committed not to allow any arms sale in the region to disturb the balance of
power, the US Department of Defense has no formal system or model to
actually determine if in fact a given sale would disturb this balance.
Instead DOD follows the tautology that since a sale cannot be made if it
disturbs the balance then if there is a sale it does not disturb the balance
since sales cannot disturb the balance.

This article appeared the same day as a report by Ha'aretz Correspondent
Amir Oren that Senior Israeli defense officials believe the USA could slash
weapons supply if Israel rejects a "fair offer" from Syria for a peace
agreement. As Henry Kissinger noted in "White House Years", the dangerous
nature of the 1975 weapons supply cutback he initiated to punish Israel was
seriously underestimated by American experts at the time.

Neither Ha'aretz articles related these developments to plans to substitute
the strategic depth of the Golan for American promises of offsetting
American technology that may itself either be offset by USA sales to the
Arab states or cut off from Israel as part of a "reevaluation" if Israel
rejects a "fair offer" over Jerusalem.]

America will supply the United Arab Emirates with eighty "Block-60" F-16s in
a $6.4 billion deal already approved by Congress. The F-16s the UAE is
buying are much more advanced than those recently purchased by the Israel
Air Force, and include systems even more advanced than those used by the US
Air Force. The deal also includes $1.3 billion worth of missiles and weapons
for the fighter jets.

The Block-60 F-16s are produced by Lockheed Martin, and are more advanced
than those used by the U.S. Air Force itself. The price of one of these
jets, not including weapons and the engine, is almost twice that of the
F-16I purchased by Israel in August.

It is very likely that the planes sold to the UAE will be fitted with
Conformal Fuel Tanks manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).

Negotiations between Lockheed Martin and the UAE have been continuing for
more than two years and at one point the American manufacturer was
conducting talks simultaneously with the IAF. The Defense Establishment had
hoped that negotiations between Lockheed Martin and the UAE would be
completed first, so that a large proportion of the cost for development for
the avionics would fall on the UAE.

The talks, however, continued for much longer than expected because of the
UAE's demand that the planes be fitted with the most advanced systems. The
demand was initially rejected by the Pentagon and last August, an agreement
was signed between Lockheed Martin and the IAF for 60 F-16Is at a price of
$2.4 billion, with an option to purchase a further 50 F-16s at $2 billion.

The UAE was also examining the option of purchasing European fighter jets
while conducting talks with America. This caused some worry in the U.S.
since the loss of business could have been detrimental to Lockheed Martin
whose stocks lost 56 percent of their value on the New York Stock Exchange
last year.

Lockheed Martin said yesterday that the radar fitted on the UAE's new F-16s
is more precise and powerful than that installed in USAF jets, as well as in
IAF planes. The weapons system installed on the UAE jets are also more
advanced than those fitted in the F-16I purchased by Israel.