US TO PROVIDE ISRAEL WITH V-22 OSPREY AIRCRAFT
Gaza, 29 Dhul hijja 1434/3 November 2013 (MINA) – The United States will provide Israeli regime with six 22 Osprey aircraft as part of its military aid, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Thursday.
Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that the tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a jet, were used by the US military in Afghanistan, Palestine’s Al-Ray reported as quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
Hagel said the delivery would be expedited that “Israel will get six V-22s out of the next order to go on the assembly line, and they will be compatible with other Israeli military capabilities.”
NBC reported that (Israel) could get the unique Ospreys within as early as two years, which, according to a senior Pentagon official, it requested this week.
The Pentagon agreed to reallocate the next group of aircraft to come off the production line, which had been previously assigned to the Marines, to meet the order, the official said.
One V-22 Osprey’s estimated cost is $69 million.The aircraft is not likely to replace the Israel Air Force’s line of helicopters. The deal was negotiated between Hagel and the Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon during the former’s first visit to the Middle East as defense secretary earlier this year.
Hagel also announced by then $10 billion in arms sales to Middle East allies, including 25 F-16 Fighting Falcon weapons for the United Arab Emirates as well as other precision arms for the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Hagel said “the United States, which has a policy of maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge,” had decided to offer Israel the V-22 aircraft as well as the KC-135 refueling airplane.
According to Israeli daily Jerusalem Post, the Obama administration had requested $3.1 billion for (Israel) for the 2014 fiscal year. In 2007, the two countries agreed on a 10-year, $30-billion military aid package covering the 2009-18 fiscal years. (T/P03/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
