Do you remember the whole dust up last year between the US and Israeli defense ministries/departments over Israeli weapons and technology sales to China, specifically concerning upgrades to the Israeli-made, Beijing-purchased Harpy drone? It got so bad that at one point the undersecretary of defense for policy was demanding the resignation of the director general of the Israeli defense ministry, and the Pentagon quietly suspended cooperation with the Israeli defense ministry on technology transfer issues. Well, here's the latest installment from Ha'aretz:

The police and the Defense Ministry are conducting an investigation into suspicions that an Israeli company sought to smuggle defense-related reconnaissance drones to China.

The company under investigation, Amit, manufactures Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) for reconnaissance purposes. [...]

The company and its owner are suspected of having transferred an RPV to a foreign nation, ostensibly for the purpose of displaying it at a weapons show. The transfer was allegedly carried out without a permit from the Defense Ministry.

Police suspect that the RPV was ultimately intended to be shipped to China, along with additional RPVs produced by Amit.

There is more to this story, I imagine, than has come out in the US press, although the Israeli press has been covering it heavily.

Posted by Laura at May 22, 2006 07:54 AM