Saturday, October 14, 2017

Lavi - The Controversy Continues 30 Years Later

Even now, decades after the fact, the controversy surrounding the cancellation of the Lavi program remains unresolved, as evidenced by two recent columns on the subject published in Israel's Haaretz.

The first, from former Defense Minister Moshe Arens, outlines three lies that were used by the opponents of the airplane to convince Israel's Cabinet to cancel the program in August of 1987.[1] The three lies were:

  • The unit price of the airplane was quoted on the basis of 80 aircraft, rather than on a larger production run of 200 aircraft - which would have been better aligned with the number of warplanes that the IDF actually intended to purchase over the next two decades.
  • The Cabinet was informed that Israel's air force instead planned to purchase the Advanced Tactical Fighter (which later became the F-22) from the United States, which was then under development - despite the fact that the U.S. had not offered the airplane for sale to Israel or to any other nation, and had no intention of doing so.
  • The Cabinet was misled regarding the number of engineers and technicians that would be laid off in the event of a vote to cancel the program, with an array of theoretical development programs proposed which never materialized and which were never proposed again.

As many of us are aware, Dr. Arens was among the Lavi program's most vocal champions within the Israeli government.

The second article published in Haaretz was a rebuttal from Kobi Richter, who headed the Weapons Department division for Israel's air force from 1983 to 1986.[2] Kobi Richter outlines his reasons for opposing the Lavi development program, mostly surrounding the eventual cost of procuring and maintaining a small fleet of unique Israeli-built warplanes. Nowhere, however, does Kobi Richter refute any of the three points made by Dr. Arens regarding how the Israeli Cabinet was misled in order to secure a vote in favor of cancelling the program.

Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding the Lavi is likely to remain indefinitely, with supporters and opponents of the program unconvinced by the arguments from the other side.


References:
[1] Moshe Arens, "The Three Lies That Shot Down the Lavi, the World's Greatest Israeli Fighter Aircraft," Haaretz (Sept 28, 2017).
[2] Kobi Richter, "I Opposed Building Israeli Fighter Jet Based on the Truth," Haaretz (Oct 2, 2017).