Controversial Israeli Jet Inferior to U.S. Aircraft, Weinberger Says

A congressional agency reports it will cost Israel $1 billion a year beginning in 1990 to produce the Lavi fighter-bomber, sources said Wednesday, and Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger termed the plane inferior to U.S. aircraft.

The report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, supported Pentagon assertions that Israeli expenditures on the F-16 look-alike will consume too much of the $1.8 billion in U.S. military aid granted annually, leaving little for other major weapons purchases, the sources said.

Israel is on the verge of deciding whether to proceed with production of the Lavi jet, which it estimated would cost $550 million a year to build. One source said the GAO report “might have some effect” on its decision.

First Public Criticism

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Weinberger for the first time publicly criticized the Lavi and Israel’s plans to manufacture it, saying U.S. military aid to the Jewish state could be put to better use.

“If the Israelis wish to build an airplane that’s inferior to the one they’ve already bought from us, that’s entirely their business,” he said. “We don’t think they should use United States military assistance funds that are designed to strengthen their military in ways that will not strengthen their military.”

Israel has bought U.S.-built F-15 and F-16 fighters.

The unclassified GAO report was requested in June by Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

Sources said he is holding up its release until Monday because of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s visit to Washington this week. Shamir is to meet today with Weinberger. A subcommittee staff member declined to say why the report was being withheld.

Israel’s Cost Estimate

The government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries seeks to build 300 Lavis for the Israeli air force and estimated that each plane would cost $15.5 million. A Pentagon analysis put the cost at $22.1 million. The GAO said it would be $17.8 million, sources said.

“We think the GAO figures are wrong and ours are right,” Weinberger told the House panel. It is “just too expensive an airplane.”

Further, the report said that annual costs for the plane would reach $1 billion in 1990 and increase to $1.4 billion by the year 2000, the sources said, confirming figures that first appeared in Defense Week, an industry newsletter.