The head of “Rafael”–Israel’s armaments development authority–said yesterday that the level of weapons deployed in the Middle East, which lagged for years a generation behind those of the Superpowers, is now approaching their level. According to Dr. Zeev Bonen, addressing the fifth conference on mechanical engineering in Haifa, this means that Israel cannot afford to fall behind in research and development of weapons systems. He said Israel was concentrating on the development of weapons systems that the Superpowers–obviously the United States–were not ready to provide her with. Bonen said “Rafael” was spending 20 percent of its multi-million dollar budget for research other than specific short-term projects.
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