— Mexico’s Defense Minister, Gen. Felix Lopez, announced here that his country will not buy the Israel-made Kfir jet fighters for its air force, but he praised the Israeli army.
Lopez arrived in Israel Jan. 11 at the head of a 16-man military delegation to inspect military installations and, specifically the Kfir, the first combat aircraft designed and built in Israel. During his six-day visit he inspected the Kfir production line at Israel Aircraft Industries. Mexico reportedly had been interested in the Kfir for some time as part of a program to reequip its air force. It was expected to order 24 of the aircraft.
But the Kfir had to compete against the American-made F-15E and apparently the order will not materialize. Lopez told a press conference here, however, that he “saw the Israeli army and it is one of the best in the world.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
