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Israel seeks US Financing for Defence Projects.

Thread ID: 10391 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-10-10

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yummybear [OP]

2003-10-10 05:02 | User Profile

[url]http://www.rense.com/general42/amau.htm[/url]

Rense.com

[B]Israel Seeks US Financing For Defence Projects. Pentagon Agency Chief Meets Israeli Defense Officials[/B]

By Amnon Barzilai Haaretz.com 10-9-3

A senior official from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency of the Pentagon, was in Israel last week to discuss cooperation on the research and development of defense projects with Defense Ministry and security industry officials.

Dr. Anthony Tether was the guest of Brigadier General (Res.) Shmuel Keren, head of the Defense Ministry's research and development authority for weapons and infrastructure. Tether is responsible for DARPA's annual $3 billion dollar budget.

Israel's defense establishment is concerned its technological capabilities will suffer irreversibly and a "brain drain" will result from the recent NIS 3 billion cut in the Defense Ministry budget, and an expected NIS 4 billion cut next year. It is, therefore, seeking outside financing for its technological projects.

Tether met with Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron and toured the Rafael Armament Development Authority, Israel Aircraft Industries, and Elbit electronics systems. He also met with the heads of Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.

Israeli-developed technologies in the areas of unmanned systems and micro-sensors, as well as breakthroughs on a global scale by Technion in the area of molecular electronics, were presented to Tether. He said the vision for military R&D for the next 10 to 20 years is to develop the technology to bring any type of systems array to any point in the world and to ensure total interface between all systems in terms of control and monitoring.

Tether said he was impressed with Israel's level of research and development and that he would support joint programs between Israel's defense industries and DARPA.