Quote:
Originally Posted by yubba
,So why does Egypt need 2 attack subs ???
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Tracking and eliminating Israeli Dolphin-class boats which with 99% probability carry nuclear missiles.
Israel intervened on this story, and the German government said they will reconsider the sale - whatever that should mean. Could very well mean "we reconsidered it and sell the subs nevertheless". Merkel has loosened tight rules on German arms exports to help German weapon makers who suffer from defense budget cuts. At the same time Germany heavily subsidised Israeli submarines.
Saudi Arabia wanted to buy up to 800 German Leopard2 tanks of the latest version. Tanks are in no high demand in Western armies anymore. And Krauss-Mafai feels it.
Personally I am strictly against any military item sales and technology transfers. While for politicians military platforms are just trade goods like any other, to me they are primarily means of combat. And when I have good weapons, I hide them, not handing them around to potential enemies, or untrustworthy friends selling them to rogues and potential enemies. Military and weapon trade should be globally banned by a treaty like the nuclear anti-proliferation treaties.
Selling military weapons to foreign nations is one of the few maximum callibre categories of major crime were I accept execution as a sanction by the legal system, preemptively. That includes policy-makers as well as legal or illegal producers delivering them to foreign customer nations directly, and of course smugglers as well as men-in-the-middle traders.
Trading military platforms and systems in my understanding also often is a form of high treason.