ISREAL AIMS TO SEAL U.S. FIGHTER DEAL - from Reuters:
Israel aims to decide before its May 17 election if it will award a fighter plane tender worth up to $4 billion to Lockheed Martin Corp or Boeing Co, Defense Minister Moshe Arens said Wednesday. Arens, who will visit Lockheed and Boeing plants during a visit to the United States next week, said Israel was still waiting to get final offers from both companies. ''We don't have the final offers yet in the competition. We're going to look it all over and then decide,'' he told Reuters. ''The schedule right now is that the decision will be made before the (general) election. If we need additional information, it may be after the elections,'' he said.
Israel must decide between Lockheed's single engine F-16 and Boeing's F-15, which it chose in the previous 1994 tender because of the plane's longer range. Israeli officials said at the time the air force needed the Boeing's longer range planes, which cost about twice as much as the F-16, to counter potential Iranian and Iraqi belligerence.
This time, air force officers and defense officials predict Israel will split the tender, buying up to 25 planes from Boeing and 50 from Lockheed Martin. He is scheduled to visit Boeing's St Louis plant Sunday and Monday, meet Defense Secretary William Cohen and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Tuesday and tour Lockheed's plant in Ft Worth Wednesday and Thursday.
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