Tel Aviv in the blue painted blue. The Israeli Air Force has chosen Made in Italy for its new trainer aircraft. A stellar saleswoman from approx a billion dollars, which he saw prevail Alenia Aermacchi on the fierce South Korean competitors. The aeronautical company controlled by the giant Finmeccanica will supply the Israeli army with about thirty M-346 jets to replace the old fleet of American A-4 Skyhawks, in service since 1968.
For those who support the peace process in the Middle East, it is certainly not good news to know that the Israeli armed forces will be armed by a holding company whose majority shareholder is the Italian finance ministry (which owns 30,20% of the share package of Finmeccanica).
However, the Italian M-346s will not be used to fight on the front lines. As recently revealed by Corriere della Sera, Israel buys them to entrust them to the Navy and train cadets of 102 Squadron, better known by the reassuring name of “Flying tigers".
In return, "the Italian government has agreed to buy products from Israel's Defense Industry for a total amount of one billion US dollars." The Ministry of Defense of the Jewish state specifies it in a note released by the Israeli embassy in Rome.
Finmeccanica's reaction on the Stock Exchange was clear, after a morning of declines in a session of general contraction of the Milanese stock market, following the announcements the stock reversed course and in the afternoon stood at plus 1,12 percent at 3,44 euros .
More specifically, the director general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, General Udi Shinai will recommend the Israeli government to authorize the defense agreement with the Italian government. The agreement, we read, concerns the supply of about 30 technologically advanced M346-type jets for exercises simulating combat, jets that will be delivered by Alenia Aermacchi directly to the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
The final decision, reports from Jerusalem, was made today "after a careful analysis of the parameters and dimensions of the aircraft", evaluating the order in the context of the more general agreement between Rome and the Israeli defense industry, with respect to a rival offer from South Korea. The Israeli authorities also underline that, in the choice, the funds for the acquisition, the quality and cost of the jets counted a lot, in addition to the recommendations of the national air force, which allegedly "expressed a professional preference for Italian training jets”.
