The huge arms deal under which the Indian government will purchase at least 8,000 Spike anti-tank missiles and 300 launchers from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is, by any measure, a major achievement for the Israeli defense industry. Beyond the nice profit -- around 2 billion shekels ($530 million) -- from the deal, it also marks a rare technological and diplomatic success that will give the Israeli defense industry a boost that it needs as much as a desert needs water. From a technological standpoint, the Spike missile is at least a generation ahead of its American competitor, the Javelin, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. The Spike is in fact a family of highly accurate man-portable missiles with ranges from 2.5 to 8 kilometers (1.6 to 5 miles). The missiles are launched with a "fire-and-forget" system: The operator locks the advanced guidance system on the target and, after launch, the missile does the rest of the job by itself. But in the tough world of arms sales, a technological advantage does not guarantee anything, particularly in competing against the U.S. The Americans do not give up on any deal, big or small, in any corner of the world, demonstrating admirable business tenacity. They fight bitter battles against every competitor, even those from a friendly country, like Israel. U.S. pressure led Israel to back out of the deal it had reached to sell China the Falcon advanced airborne early warning system, and Israel had to pay China a substantial amount in damages after the cancellation of the deal. The Lavi fighter plane, developed by Israel Aircraft Industries in the 1980s, ended up not going into production due to heavy U.S. pressure on Israel to buy the F-16 instead. And just a few months ago, the sale of Israeli UAVs to Russia was thwarted by U.S. pressure. These are just some examples. I personally witnessed the uncompromising effort Boeing made, in two different rounds, to prevent El Al from considering the purchase of Airbus planes. During the decision-making process, the main argument of Boeing supporters was the close relationship between Israel and Boeing in particular, and Israel and the U.S., in general. The quality of the planes themselves played, at best, a secondary role. The climax of the battle took place when then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai gave an interview in which he said that the purchase of Airbus planes by El Al would "endanger the security of Israel." El Al, as you may remember, ultimately went with Boeing. A story I heard from a reliable source illustrates how the Americans do not give up on even a tiny deal. A tender was issued by the Israeli government for new cars for ministers. Only European cars were included in the tender. One day, a call came from the U.S., with an official wanting to know why American cars were not included in the tender. "All told, we're talking about 20 cars. That interests you-" the Israeli official asked. "Even one car interests us," the U.S. official bluntly replied. The international news agencies that reported on the Indian arms deal took care to note the heavy pressure the U.S. applied in its bid to win the deal. This pressure resulted in the delay of the Spike deal, as well as the deal that was reached for IAI to sell the Barak surface-to-surface missile to India. Now, both deals have been finalized, and this should not be downplayed, as the U.S. and India recently signed a 10-year military cooperation agreement and, as noted above, the Americans know how apply pressure. Thus, Rafael's success, particularly at a time when Israel's international image is not so shiny, is certainly noteworthy.
