Grounding the Lavi

An Israeli defense expert remarked a while back that while his country’s Lavi fighter plane might turn out to be a superb weapon for supporting ground troops, by the time it was paid for Israel wouldn’t be able to afford the ground troops. Senior Israeli military leaders worry about just that. What neither political rhetoric nor number shuffling can any longer hide is that the Lavi project has become an economic fiasco. To the detriment of other priorities, it is consuming a huge proportion of Israel’s total defense spending--up to $550 million a year--and what Israel stands to get in return just isn’t worth it.

Begun in 1980, the Lavi project was supposed to produce an advanced fighter plane with a useful life extending well into the next century. In Israeli planners’ minds, the Lavi would have values extending beyond its battlefield effectiveness. Designed and built by Israeli engineers--though heavily dependent on some major U.S. components--the Lavi would gain immediate prestige by being the front-line fighter in one of the world’s finest air forces, enhancing its export potential. And it would ensure steady work for thousands of skilled technicians in Israel’s aircraft industry.

But the Lavi ran into problems, as such projects often do, and soon costs soared beyond acceptable levels. A Pentagon study last year estimated that Israel would have to spend $13 billion to develop and produce the 300 Lavis that it had originally planned for. For $2.5 billion less, the study found, Israel could buy 300 more U.S.-made F-16 fighters, and almost certainly get a superior plane to boot. That cost differential is important to Americans, because most of the expense of the Lavi has been underwritten by U.S. grants. Up to $550 million a year from the total $3 billion a year that Israel gets in U.S. aid is spent on the Lavi.

As Israeli military chiefs have made plain, better uses certtainly can be found for the money now spent on the Lavi. The problem is in persuading Israel’s political leaders, who have repeatedly insisted that the project go on. A major reason is fear that if the Lavi is canceled, hundreds of highly trained aerospace engineers will head for the emigration lines. That’s an understandable concern, but it hardly justifies continuing to spend scarce resources on a losing venture. The cabinet may vote Sunday on what to do about the Lavi. Its only rational economic choice is to scrap it.