The World - News from July 2, 1987

Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin met in Washington with Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and said his government has not yet decided whether to end development of the Lavi fighter, which the Reagan Administration has criticized as too costly. Weinberger has urged Israel to scrap the Lavi and buy U.S.-made fighters, but Rabin said “the alternatives can’t meet our special needs.” Weinberger made clear to Rabin that increasing the annual $1.8 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel to bail it out of the Lavi project would be “out of the question,” one official said.