Israeli firm wins US Marine Corps' contracts
Iran Press TV
Sun May 18, 2014 3:14PM GMT
The US subsidiary of an Israeli firm has won two contracts to support the upgrade of the US Marine Corps' Bell AH-1W attack helicopter fleet.
Elbit Systems, an Israel-based defense electronics company, said the contracts awarded to its subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America, worth $20.1 million.
One of the contracts, worth $11.6 million, calls for Elbit Systems of America to provide helmet display tracker system (HDTS) kits on the aircraft.
HDTS improves flight safety by providing crew members greater situational awareness with enhanced night vision, weapons sighting and weapons control capabilities. The contract will be implemented over a 2-year period.
The second contract, in the amount of $8.5 million, will add tactical video data link technology (TVDL), which provides aircrew information needed to detect, identify and quickly respond to threats. This contract will be implemented over 15 months. The information can be communicated back and forth, so all forces in a given area, on the ground or in the air, will have the same intelligence data when making mission-critical tactical decisions.
The US has been the staunchest ally of Israel. The two have had very close military relations. Tel Aviv is major user of US military equipment. At the same time, Israel is involved in the joint development of military technology and regularly engages in joint military exercises with the US.
Israel by far the largest single recipient of US aid. In 2007, the Bush Administration agreed to increase US military assistance to Israel by $6 billion over the following decade. Israel is to receive incremental annual increases of $150 million, starting at $2.55 billion in FY2009 and reaching $3.15 billion per year for FY2013-2018.
Currently, Washington is giving over $3.1 billion per year of military aid to Tel Aviv. According to IF American Knew Website during Fiscal Year 2013 alone, the US provided "Israel with at least $8.5 million per day in just military aid".
Many details surrounding the US-Israeli military cooperation remain classified.
Israel uses the aid to continue its decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands and launch wars and aggressions not only against Palestinians but also other nations in the region including Lebanon and Syria.
According to Jewish Voice for Peace "Israel has used its US-financed arsenal against unarmed Palestinian civilians, including children."
Meanwhile, according to a recent report by Newsweek - that came out Friday - the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has ranked Israel as the third most aggressive "intelligence service" working against the US, a leaked document shows.
Newsweek reported that "American counter-intelligence officials told members of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees at the end of January that Israel's current espionage activities in America are 'unrivaled and unseemly,' going far beyond the activities of other close allies, such as Germany, France, the UK and Japan. According to the report, "Israel's aggressive spying on the US is mostly hushed up".
An American columnist with Veterans Today, Jim Dean, has told Press TV that "Capitol Hill is overrun with Israeli spies. They have them on staff. They have congressmen working very closely with Israeli intelligence, helping them get anything they want. They literally sometimes can put orders in for things that the Pentagon will not share with them."
DDB/DDB
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