Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Euro Israeli Defence Cooperation

Well not exactly Euro, Poland and Italy actually:

"Today is a special day for Poland," Szmajdzinski said. "It sends out a special message to the people of Poland that today our army has a far higher capability."

Prior to the ceremony, Mofaz signed an agreement with Szmajdzinski enhancing bilateral ties and defense and military cooperation between the two countries. At a meeting the two discussed the situation in the Middle East, global terror and industrial ties between both countries.

Italy too:
After his two-day visit in Poland, Mofaz is to travel to Italy for a four days. He is to be hosted by his Italian counterpart, Antonio Martino, and meet with Italian leaders. The visit comes after Israel and Italy reportedly agreed to invest $140 million to develop a new electronic system to disable enemy aircraft. Defense officials said this project would be one of several that Mofaz is to discuss during his visit.

Accompanying Mofaz will be ministry Director-General Amos Yaron and Amos Gilad, ministry head of foreign relations.

Relations between Israel and Italy have improved substantially against the background of the shared support the governments have given to the US-led war on terrorism. Almost alone among European leaders Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has backed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's hard-line stance toward the Palestinians virtually without reservation.

The new electronic warfare system is meant to provide Israeli and Italian fighter aircraft with the ability to identify threats from enemy planes and to neutralize their offensive capabilities, an Israeli defense official told AP.

They said that each plane equipped with the system would be able operate against several enemy aircraft over a wide swath of airspace, leaving accompanying planes free to carry out offensive maneuvers.

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