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“Israel could count very little on her meager natural resources
and very much on her human resources, spawning recognizable
achievements in key fields that ranged from sophisticated
military technology to advanced space programs. Drawing on
his compelling high-profile personal experiences in how Israel
secured a foothold in the international military R&D arena,
in Eilam’s Arc, Uzi Eilam shares with his readers
a revealing account of this unique story.” Shimon Peres,
The President of the State of Israel
“Uzi Eilam is the father of Israel’s high-tech revolution
in weapons development and has played a critical below the
radar role in building Israel's advanced defense capabilities.
In this fascinating, intimate account of how Israel developed
everything from anti-tank missiles to the Ofek satellite and
the Arrow ballistic missile defense system, Uzi takes the
reader inside the secretive offices of Israel's defense establishment.
A must read for anybody interested in the decisions that have
shaped Israel’s defense for the 21st century.” Ambassador
Martin Indyk, Vice President of Brookings Institution, Washington
D.C. and former member of the National Security Council and
advisor to President Clinton and former U.S. Ambassador in
Israel
"It is unusual for a general of the Paratroop Corps to
be a farmer, a scientist, a poet, a musician and a carpenter.
But this is what makes Eilam’s book the key for understanding
the uniqueness of the Israeli military and human success story.”
Professor Emeritus Dan Vitorio Segre President of the Institute
of Mediterranean Studies at the University of Lugano, Switzerland
and former Professor of Political Science in the University
of Haifa, Israel
“This
book is not only an excellent biography, but a realpolitik
history about the State Israel. Uzi Eilam embodies the best
mixture of military, science, politics and cultural life.”
Gen. Paul Müller, Major General ret., former Deputy Commander,
Swiss Armed Forces
“Uzi Eilam’s
life story intersects with the history of modern Israel at
critical junctures and in fascinating ways. Israel has been
fortunate to have produced remarkable men like him. They have
helped transform the country into what it is today.” Peter
Ho, Centre for Strategic Futures, Singapore
“Eilam’s
Arc provides a fascinating record of events, people and
the emotions on the birth of MAFAT and the Yom Kippur War
experience. It adds to public knowledge on the criticality
of the human dimension behind defence science and technology.”
Professor Lui Pao Chuen, Engineering Faculty, National University
of Singapore and former Chief Defense Scientist, Singapore
"This tour de force by an outstanding military, strategic
and technological leader conveys the remarkable accomplishments
of the Israeli innovative defense research and development,
providing inspiring insights into the creation of the high-quality
technological cutting edge, which is critical to the national
security of Israel.” Professor Yehoshua Jortner, Tel Aviv
University, former President of the Israel National Academy
of Sciences, and past Chairman of the R&D Advisory Committee
in Ministry of Defense, Israel
“Uzi Eilam’s autobiography reveals the secret recipe that
made Israel Defense R&D what it is today. A must-read
for anyone who wants to understand how Israel became a start-up
nation.” Professor Major General (ret.) Itzhak Ben Israel,
head of the Program for Defense Studies in the University
of Tel Aviv, Chairman of the Israeli Space Program, and Chairman
of the Civilian R&D National Council, former Director
of Mafat in Ministry of Defense, Israel
“For fifty years Uzi Eilam has been on the front line of the
struggle for Israel as a soldier, an advisor and a shrewd
manager of technological development. His autobiography reads
like a thriller with a strong dose of managerial know-how.
The book is inspiring and entertaining.” Marc Perrin de
Brichambaut, General Secretary of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and former Director of Strategic
Affairs in the Ministry of Defense, France
Develop It Yourself
Eilam Book Recounts Decades of U.S.–Israeli
R&D, Acquisition Deals
by Barbara Opall-Rome
A new book by one of Israel's most prominent defense development
figures reveals decades of closed-door deliberations and diplomatic
manoeuvring in Israel's perennial quest for military superiority
in the region.
In “Eilam’s Arc: Advanced Technology, the Secret
of Israeli Strength,” retired Brig. Gen. Uzi Eilam,
recounts Israel's military build-up since the 1973 Yom Kippur
War and the parallel growth of its defense industry through
indigenous development and international cooperation, primarily
with the United States.
… A former paratrooper, decorated military commander
and mechanical engineer, Eilam spent the bulk of his career
managing Israel's most sensitive strategic technology organizations,
including the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and MoD’s
Defense Research and Development Directorate.
… Like dozens of current and former Israeli officials
charged with cultivating U.S.–Israeli strategic ties,
Eilam attributes a significant part of Israeli strength to
traditionally generous funding, technological and political
support from Washington. Nevertheless, he illuminates longstanding
irritants in the so-called special relationship, describing
in detail the backroom brinkmanship often used in Israeli
attempts to gain access to front-line U.S. weaponry.
According to Eilam, the best way to work around U.S. technology
transfer restrictions was to prove to colleagues in Washington
that Israel could develop similar systems.
Such was the case, he noted, during the 1973 war, when the
Israeli government submitted a wish list of U.S. weaponry
– codenamed Treasure –to strengthen its land,
sea and air forces. By Eilam's account, the request included
several systems that were still classified or in advanced
development, including advanced radar, electro-optical and
laser-guided air-to-ground missiles, Redeye shoulder-launched
air defense missiles, encrypted communications, Lance missiles
and Multiple Launch Rocket System for its artillery corps.
… The “height of Israeli chutzpa” or audacity,
noted Eilam, then-director of Israeli military R&D, was
Israel’s request for the nuclear-capable, long-range,
surface-to-surface Pershing missiles.
… Several working level sessions, including a wartime
visit to Washington by Israel's then-Defense Minister Moshe
Dayan, yielded Pentagon approval for only a small portion
of the Israeli wish list.
… “It became crystal clear to me the rules and
conditions by which the Americans will provide us the advanced
weaponry we desired,” Eilam wrote. “I concluded
that the United States would only allow herself to release
advanced systems only and unless we could argue that we were
significantly on our way to developing similar capabilities.”
Reflecting a widely held, but seldom discussed, belief of
the Israeli defense establishment, Eilam said once Israel
was on the verge of developing a capability, the Pentagon
would reverse earlier denials and even encourage Israeli purchases,
often in last-ditch attempts to forestall competition on the
export market. This way, he said, Washington intensified Israeli
dependence on, even addiction to, U.S. procurement while limiting
Israel’s ability to compete for global sales.
… “This paradigm is relevant until today,”
he writes.
Eilam cited a broad range of laser-guided weaponry formerly
denied and subsequently offered to Israel once state-owned
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) had developed its own line
of laser-guided bombs and missiles. According to Eilam, denials
received in the aftermath of 1973 were “immediately
responded to” in the run-up to Israel's 1982 war in
Lebanon.
… In many cases, Pentagon approval for front-line technologies
came too late to derail independent Israeli development programs.
Examples alluded to in the book, which had to be cleared by
Israel's military censor, included Israeli indigenous development
of anti-tank missiles, electronic warfare systems, advanced
radar technologies, and several long-range air-, sea- and
ground-launched precision-strike systems.
… More recent examples, government and industry sources
here said, include Israel’s independent development
of airborne ground target tracking capabilities and cruise
missiles following denials of U.S.-built JSTARS and Tomahawk
systems.
… At an event in 2010 at Tel Aviv University's Institute
for National Security Studies, where Eilam serves as a senior
research associate, Isaac Ben-Israel, a retired major general
who succeeded Eilam as MoD director of defense R&D, shared
his colleague's view of U.S. technology transfer policies.
“ In most cases, there was no argument that we could
develop a better system here than purchasing it in the United
States. When we passed the stage that we proved our ability,
only then would the U.S. agree to sell to us,” said
Ben-Israel.
… “None of us can say for sure that this was an
official U.S. policy or that somewhere in the Pentagon there
was a chart linking the pace of our own R&D to U.S. approvals,”
said Moshe Keret, a former chief executive of state-owned
Israel Aerospace Industries. “But in practice, with
few exceptions over many years, this was always the case.”
Foreign Financing of Mega Programs
Yet another topic rarely discussed in public was Eilam’s
detailed accounts of the lengths MoD was willing to go for
foreign financing of large research and development programs.
India and a small, unidentified Asian nation, presumably Singapore,
have been key underwriters of large Israeli development programs
since the late 1980s.
Most recent examples, government and industry sources here
said, include the Barak-8 ship- and air-defense system and
the Iron Dome anti-rocket system, the former funded in part
by India and the latter by Singapore.
… Although Eilam does not identify specific foreign-financed
R&D programs, he details the process and rationale guiding
such endeavors. Given the enormous costs associated with mega
development programs and the extremely low production quantities
required by the Israel Defense Forces, Israel was forced “to
blaze new trails” through international cooperation.
… “There was no chance to raise needed funding
from internal sources, and the only way was to convince our
allies in Asian nations that they should decide to purchase
the weapon systems before they were developed,” Eilam
writes.
… The former R&D chief discusses a series of heated,
internal deliberations over the technological and operational
details to be shared with underwriting partners. He also recounts
MoD directives obliging Israeli service branches to procure
the system once it had been successfully developed; a prerequisite
demanded by foreign partners.
… “In certain cases we had to arrive at compromises
that didn’t seem possible. But when we concluded signed
agreements, we knew we were setting off on an entirely new
path,” writes Eilam of newfound funding sources “we
never dreamed we could achieve.”
… Eilam noted that the formula for securing partners
at the beginning of the engineering phase – years prior
to operational testing, let alone deployment – was replicated
at every possible opportunity.
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