An Israeli Army spokesman refused to comment today on the reported attempt by the United States government to persuade Israel to accept older and inferior F-8 Crusader jets as replacement planes instead of F-4 Phantoms, so as to temper the Arab states’ opposition to jet sales. But military observers here said such an offer would probably not be accepted anyway, as Crusaders have only one-third the efficiency of Phantoms. In addition, they said, the Israeli Air Force already has too many different types of aircraft in use, and still another model would complicate problems of maintenance, spare parts and training. The State Department declined comment yesterday on the Crusader reports.
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