Agence France-Presse,
Jerusalem: Flush with an increase in American aid, the Israeli military — the most powerful in the Middle East — is mulling how to spend billions of dollars earmarked for its armed forces over the next decade.
Army chiefs of staff convened a two-day workshop in Tel Aviv on Monday to discuss how to best allocate the military funding, which in 2008 is set to reach more than 14 billion dollars (10 billion euros).
“We are going to take into account all the available elements in order to make the most correct decisions in order to allow the army to meet the challenges of the coming years,” Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said ahead of the meeting.
This year the government approved a new mechanism under which the military will know the parameters of its budget for the next 10 years. Until now, defence spending was determined on a year by year basis by the cabinet.
In addition, Israel and the United States this month signed a memorandum of understanding for Washington to provide its ally with 30 billion dollars of military aid over the next decade.
The deal, which still has to be approved by the US Congress, marks an increase of around 25 percent in military aid Washington had been planning to provide to its main ally in the Middle East.
The moves have provided the Israeli military with an unprecedented opportunity for long-term planning and all services in the armed forces — air, army and navy — are anxious to get a piece of the financial pie.
The air force is aiming to buy new stocks of “smart bombs,” American Hercules transport aircraft and a 100 F-35 stealth bombers, according to the Ynet website.
The navy is aiming to buy two additional Dauphin submarines and two combat ships from Lockheed Martin, it said.
Meanwhile Defence Minister Ehud Barak is keen on creating an additional two reserve divisions outfitted with Merkava battle tanks.
“We will have to find a just equilibrium to assure the needs of the air, naval and ground forces,” Yuval Steinitz, an MP with the right-wing opposition Likud party, told army radio.
“As a priority, Israel should establish defensive and offensive systems to counter the threat of missiles” from arch-foes Hezbollah, Iran and Syria, he said.
Israeli military officials have been pre-occupied with countering missile threats since last year's war with Lebanon's Hezbollah, during which the Shiite militia launched nearly 4,000 rockets into the Jewish state, killing more than 40 civilians and sending another million fleeing the country's north.
Israel considers Iran as its public enemy number one in the light of repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.
Israel, widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear energy programme, a charge Tehran denies.
