Richard Whittle

Friday, December 12, 2014 - 06:32
Reports that Israel’s plan to buy a dozen V-22 Osprey tiltrotor troop transports is dead are — as Mark Twain said after reading his own incorrect obituary — greatly exaggerated. A U.S. Letter of Agreement offering a bargain price and early delivery of the first six of 12 Ospreys requested by Israel formally expired on Wednesday amid political turmoil in Tel Aviv and new elections scheduled for March 17. But a source close to the program said the Israeli Ministry of Defense sent a letter to the U.S. government this week asking that the U.S. offer be put on ice — not withdrawn — until a new Israeli government takes power in 2015.