The shifts in the arms markets

The shifts in the arms markets

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חוזה בין שני אנשים מטושטשיםThe enemy of my enemy is my friend. This very simple illustrative sentence is behind some of the recent arms deals made by Israeli defence and aerospace industries and a number of countries. In order to have some possible indication about those clients, all one must do is to take a glance on the world map and identify the neighboring countries to Israel’s worst enemies.

The middle east is going through a process of revolutions against long time ruling dictators. At the same time, Iran is getting very fast to the “nuclear threshold”, when the world, without Russia and China who aren’t take part in some of the global processes, is helpless and is not taking any real action to counter the threats. This status doesn’t leave Israel any option but to redefine its “friends” list.

Not always this list seems logical, but when the interests are the same, processes that were very unlikely some years ago,  all of a sudden look the most logical ones. So the new reality brought some huge contracts to the Israeli defence and aerospace industries. In addition to the clients, the shopping lists are always very peculiar: They include the upgrade of existing platforms and the purchase of new very advanced ones..

The negotiations were long and very complicated, and the contracts include safeguards against any possible change in the clients “likings”. In the very fluid situation in some parts of the world, but mostly in the middle eastern neighborhood,  the status of governments and rulers can change overnight. The very recent examples of Egypt, Yemen and Syria are only part of the trend.

Arie Egozi iHLS editor-in-chief
Arie Egozi
iHLS editor-in-chief