Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — The Israeli Defense Ministry is weighing a change in the use
U.S. aid to buy surplus equipment from the American military.

“There are lots of platforms that we don’t have to buy new, and
therefore save lots of money,” an official said.

Israel has been receiving $3 billion in annual U.S. military aid. Much of the assistance was committed to ordering the Joint Strike Fighter and other military aircraft.

One proposal was for the Defense Ministry to order hundreds of surplus Humvee combat vehicles from the U.S. Army. Officials said the Defense Department has signaled that it would prefer to sell up to 10,000 Humvees deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq rather than ship them to bases in Europe
and the United States.

Officials said
the talks reflected an effort to stretch U.S. military aid to fulfill the
requirements of the Israel Army.

A key client of surplus Humvees has been Iraq. The U.S. Army has transferred 8,000 Humvees to the Iraq Army in a project that also
included repair and refurbishing.

Officials said the Pentagon was approaching other U.S. allies in the
Arab world to examine surplus military equipment in Afghanistan and Iraq.
They cited Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — all of which have sought to
bolster their armies.

  Afghanistan, Israel Army, Israel looks to shift some of U.S. aid for F-35s to surplus Humvees, Israeli Defense Ministry, U.S. Army