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Lavi
Israel has developed an extremely capable aircraft industry, honed by combat experience unmatched in the world. Israeli-built aircraft include the Nesher (a copy of the Mirage III), and the Kfir (which resembles the Mirage 5, using the American J-79 engine). In addition, Israel gained considerable experience in aircraft production from indigenous upgrade programs for its Mirage and F-4 aircraft. In the mid-1970's, Israel sought agreement for coproduction of the F-16, but this fell through due to American concerns about potential third-party sales in competition with the American manufacturer.
Subsequently, Israel planned to build up to 300 Lavi dual-role combat aircraft to replace its fleet of A-4 and Kfir aircraft between 1993 and 2003. One estimate put the development cost at $3 billion. The United States provided $1.3 billion of $1.5 billion Lavi development costs between 1980 and 1986, and between 1983 and 1988 Congress earmarked a total of $1.8 billion (through FY1987) for the Lavi. The Lavi program used mature US subsystems, and Israel subcontracted to American companies for the PW1120 engine project that it was not in a position to develop on its own, as well as for other elements that were beyond domestic Israeli capacity such as composite
wings and flight control computers.
Lavi was canceled in 1987 as a result of growing American concerns about the cost of the project, as well as from concerns that Lavi fighters would threaten the export
market of the US F-16 and F-18. Under American pressure, on August 30 1987 the Israeli cabinet voted to cancel the Lavi project, but asked the United States for $450 million to pay for canceled contracts. The State Department agreed to raise the earmark for procurement in Israel from $300 million to $400 million to pay Lavi cancellation costs
IAI Lavi Specifications
Type Multirole attack aircraft Powerplant One 55.5kN (15,500 lb) dry and 82.7kN (18,600 lb) w/ afterburning P&W
PW1120 afterburning turbojet (a turbojet development of the F100) Accommodation Pilot only, or two in tandem Lavi TD Armament One internal 30 mm cannon. Maximum of 7250 kg (16000 lb) of weapons.
Two wingtip pylons for AAMs. Four underwing and seven underfuselage hardpoints can carry ASMs,
bombs, LGBs and rockets. The two inner wing hardpoints can carry fuel tanks. Performance 
Max speed Mach 1.85 (1969km/h; 1063kt) Combat radius 1110km (600nm). Minimum Takeoff Run 305m (1000ft). G Limit +9; TD +7.2 Weights Empty 7030kg (15,500 lb) MTOW 18,370kg (40,500 lb) Dimensions Wingspan 8.78m (28ft 10in) Length 14.57m (47ft 10in) Height 4.78m (15ft 8in) Wing area 33.1m� (335.8sq ft)
Sources
The info for this plane was taken from the following sources on the internet and all credit should go to them. If you want to know more about this aircraft, I suggest checking out these great sites.
Aircraft of the Month for September 1999
Military Analysis Network
Uncommon Aircraft- IAI Lavi
Israeli Fighter Selection
