Behind the Headlines a Soaring Experience

The mission of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations veered sharply away from the Jonathan Pollard spy case and politics to soar into the wild blue yonder.

The leaders of 40 American Jewish organizations, headed by Conference chairman Morris Abram, were introduced to two state-of-the-art combat aircraft — the Israel-built Lavi now undergoing rigorous test flights and the American-made F-16, six of which were delivered last Thursday to an Israel Air Force base after an 8,000-mile flight from Fort Worth, Texas. This brought to nine the number delivered to date.

It was an interesting juxtaposition. The F-16s, which are already part of the Israel Air Force, may be the nemesis of the Lavi, which aspires to be Israel’s second-generation jet fighter-bomber. The two aircraft may be said to be in mortal combat, not in their natural element but in computer cost projections.

The Pentagon, and many in Israel, are convinced that the Lavi, with all of its high-tech wonders, is too costly to produce. The Americans are pushing the latest model F-16s, tried and tested in combat and bruited to be one-third to one-half cheaper.

But Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), manufacturer of the Lavi, is fiercely proud of its product and makes a strong case. The American Jewish leaders were invited to IAI’s complex at Ben Gurion Airport to witness test flight No. 20 of Lavi prototype No. 1, and to hear an earnest sales pitch from IAI executives — as if they were in the market for a good jet fighter.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

The plane itself is almost toylike in appearance — a small white fusilage and tail bearing a blue Star of David. But small is beautiful in the world of aeronautical engineering. A jet is no more, essentially, than a metal pipe where kerosine and compressed air are combined to generate enormous power. Here, as in many other unprepossessing vehicles, it’s the options which count.

As the Lavi prototype zoomed off the run way at a sharp angle and swiftly became a dot in the cloudless blue sky, IAI president Moshe Kerret ushered his guests into an auditorium for an hour-long briefing on the issues of cost and quality of the Lavi program and an analysis of why the U.S. government is so set against it.

First of all, Kerret stressed, the purpose of the Lavi is to defend Israel, not to create jobs and high-tech spin-offs for Israel’s industry. It will do those things, of course. The project is a stimulus to other technology-based industries and employs about 4,000 people, more than half of them engineers.

The U.S. government acknowledges Israel’s need for the Lavi, according to a Defense Department report, Kerret said. The main risks, the Pentagon maintains, are related to schedule delays and cost increases. The Defense Department contends that Israel seriously underestimated the cost of the Lavi program.

(So did the Israel State Comptroller in a scathing report issued several months ago. See March 23 JTA Daily News Bulletin.)

But Nissan Abel, head of IAI’s advanced projects, who joined Kerret on the platform, declared that the project is on schedule and cost overruns are slight. The Lavi’s performance is also better than expected, he said.

Abel dwelt on what he said were the Lavi’s advantages over alternatives, including the F-16s. The Lavi has advanced human engineering. It has a superior digital computerized system for the pilot. Because it is designed and built by Israelis, it is better suited to Israel’s special needs than any other aircraft. And because it is built at home, modifications can be made more easily than on foreign-built planes, Abel said.

Abel explained that the digital computerized systems in planes like the F-16 are almost impossible to modify because the manufacturer keeps the software and gives the purchaser only a “black box” which controls the system.

He said that was one of the reasons Israel twice requested licenses to build the F-16 in Israel. It was rejected both times. But now that Israel has produced the Lavi prototype, the U.S. has offered five licenses to build the F-16 here, Abel said.

As for costs, the Lavi program, which includes the development and production of 300 jet fighters, has a $9.1 billion price tag. The U.S. estimates the same number of F-16s at about half the price. But that figure does not include the cost of electronic warfare equipment, Abel pointed out. If equipment is figured in, the F-16s will cost as much as the Lavi and possibly more, he said.

But the real issue cannot be measured in cost. Its value lies in Israel’s capability to produce its own major weapons system, the IAI executive said.

From the briefing room, the American Jewish leaders filed aboard an ancient Hercules transport plane for a 15-minute flight to an air base in northern Israel.

F-16S MAKE AN APPEARANCE

There was a large welcoming committee on hand and as they all looked skyward, a V-formation of F-16s appeared out of the blue, escorted by several Israeli jets. They circled the landing field once, peeled off and dropped smoothly to the tarmac a few hundred feet from the assembled onlookers. These were F-16Cs, the “C” designating the most advanced model. Israel has ordered 75 of them.

The American pilots, glad their grueling nonstop delivery flight from Texas was over, emerged from their plastic bubbles and waved to the applauding crowd.

The Israel Air Force formally took over. And as the American Jewish leaders boarded their purple, state-of-the-art tour buses for the ride back to Jerusalem, they were doubtlessly pondering the advantages of Lavi vs. F-16.