By far the largest share remains with American defense contractors. Peter McPherson, a former administrator of the Agency for International Development, estimated that every billion dollars of aid to Israel creates 60,000 to 70,000 jobs in the United States.
Compared to the ~ $3.0 billion yearly military aid to Israel, the U.S. contributes more than $130 billion(!) every year to the defense of Europe and more than $30 billion to the defense of Japan, Korea, and the Far East.
Over 300,000 U.S. troops are stationed with NATO and over 30,000 U.S. troops in the Far East.
In contrast, not one single U.S. soldier needs to be stationed and put at risk in Israel. U.S. military analysts estimate that the U.S. would have to spend the equivalent of $150 billion a year in the Middle East to maintain a force equivalent to Israel’s.
Israel is the only country that has gained battlefield experience with U.S. weapons -mostly used surplus vehicles, helicopters and artilley (M109). There use in combat situations is relayed to the U.S. military.
It should also be noted that after their capture by the IDF in the '67 and '73 wars, enormous quantities of captured Soviet made weapons-including aircraft and missile defense systems were turned over to the U.S. military for analysis,
Israel, in the light of its experience, continually modifies U.S. weapons systems. For instance, Israeli engineers have made over 200 improvements in the F-15 alone and similar improvements, mostly in avionics, in later-generation planes. It would be more in line with reality if military aid to Israel were classified as part of the defense budget, rather than as “aid”.
Here is a partial list of Israeli manufactured military equipment used by the U.S. (as of January 2014):
a) ADM-141 TALD (Improved Tactical Air Launched Decoy)
Jet powered unpiloted decoys look and maneuver like an airplane. TALD's are used to confuse enemy radar and draw the fire away from piloted aircraft so they can perform their missions under "safer" conditions. Earlier unpowered glider versions of the ITALD were used extensively during the initial stages of the Gulf War and in Bosnia.
b) Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System
This helmet-mounted display (HMD) system allows fighter pilots to target enemy aircraft by using a display within their helmet to guide the missiles at the target they are looking at rather than having to maneuver their aircraft into an attack position.
c) Reactive Armor Tiles
Developed by the IDF after the Yom Kippur War, these tiles protect tanks and the soldiers within them. The tiles overlay the tank's armor and have embedded explosives that detonate outward when hit by missiles. The explosion destroys and repels the incoming missile before it penetrates the tank's main armor. During the 1982 Lebanon war, not a single Israeli tank equipped with these tiles was lost to enemy fire.
d) LITENING Targeting Pod
Litening is a navigation and targeting device that enables aircraft to fly and target in bad weather and at night. The Litening transforms older planes into round-the-clock fighters. The Litening is equipped with two cameras - one uses heat sensors to identify targets at night and during bad weather, while the second provides powerful images from long-range distances during the day. The U.S. Air National Guard, a quarter of whose fleet cannot fly at night, has purchased the Litening to enhance the capabilities of its F-16s. The Litening is also being purchased by the U.S. Marine Corps.
e) AGM-142 Have Nap
Known as "the Popeye," this missile is used to destroy targets, such as concrete military bunkers, with exceptional precision from great distances. It is the only air-to-ground missile that can be retargeted after launch. The United States uses the Popeye on B-52 bombers. A small number of aircraft armed with the Popeye were deployed to Europe for use in Kosovo.
f) UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
The UAV has been one of the most important factors enabling the United States to fight effectively with minimum casualties. The U.S. has one of the largest fleets of Israeli-made UAVs which are used to identify targets and assess bomb damage without putting pilots at risk. During the Gulf War and Kosovo, Israeli-made Pioneer and Hunter UAVs were used to stop hard-to-detect targets such as missile launchers, artillery units and command and control bunkers.
g) Python-4 Air-to-Air Missile
The Python-4 is recognized as the world' most advanced short-range air-to-air missile. Unlike other missiles of its kind, the Python can fire at targets from any angle, not just those directly in front of it. This gives it a much larger zone in which in can effectively destroy enemy aircraft.
h) SIMON breach grenade
A rifle grenade designed to breach through doors. It is mainly used to access buildings with locked or barricaded doors without endangering U.S. troops or the people inside. A variant is currently in service with the United States army.
And last the most important of All the Iron Dome (Hebrew: kippat barzel)
The Iron Dome System is an anti- "projectile defensive system. It is designed to "neutralize" -explosive laden rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds.
It's radar which was developed by Elta compliments a"specialized rapid data system" to correct the interceptors in mid flight to their target. The system's radar is referred to as EL/M-2084. It detects the rocket's launch and tracks its trajectory. The BMC calculates the impact point according to the reported data, and uses this information to determine whether the target constitutes a threat to a designated area. Only when that threat is determined, is a Tamir interceptor missile fired to destroy the incoming rocket before it reaches the predicted impact area
It should be noted that within the US-Israel "Joint Military" assistance program -"the US AID package"- Israel purchases most of the components from Raytheon, a US Defense Contractor, who since July 2014 has been a major U.S. partner in co-production of major components for the Iron Dome's Tamir intercepting missile.
The U.S. Defense Contractor Raytheon supplies components through various US owned and subcontractors -with US workers - in a Tamir missile manufacturing facility in East Camden, Arkansas USA NOT JUST FOR ISRAEL BUT for the US Marine Corps and partner forces.
This means that ALL the US Aid Funding is going back into the pockets of a US Defense Contractor who employs some 70,000 US citizens.
More importantly the Iron Dome Defensive System is a means of warding off missiles sent in an act of a blatant "International War Crime", against non military civilian targets within Israel.
In case you think the relationship is only military, Israel had more companies listed in 2012 on the NASDAQ stock exchange than any country outside the United States, except for China. After Silicon Valley and Boston, Israel receives more Venture Capital than anywhere else in the world.
What does this mean in jobs for Americans?
In 2010, U.S. subsidiaries of Israeli-owned firms employed 23,600 U.S. workers, with compensation for those employees totaling $1.8 billion, and U.S. affiliates of Israeli-owned firms also contributed $256 million to U.S. exports.
In my opinion, that's a pretty good return for the US Taxpayers. I wonder if we should now demand that the media and these brainwashed members of congress explain exactly what we get in return for the unaccounted millions given -with absolutely NO restrictions nor accounting to UNWRA and the Palestinians.
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