US economic meltdown apparently not hurting foreign military sales

Even though the US government is anticipating budget cuts and handing out cash to the banking industry, there's enough left to help Israel pick up a few F35 JSFs:

Lockheed Martin Corp, the U.S. maker of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is lobbying Israel, which has largely weathered the global financial crisis and has ample U.S. defense aid, to close a deal for the jet.
Israel is not a full partner-nation in the production of the F-35, but is among U.S. allies slated to have first pick of the radar-evading, multi-purpose planes early next decade. The F-35 could be a key Israeli bulwark against Iran and other enemies.
U.S. officials have predicted a sale to Israel may be clinched early next year. Funding for the jets, which will cost $40 million a piece, would come mainly from U.S. defense grants to Israel, which will total $30 billion between 2007 and 2017.

We covered this earlier, but the word that the US gov't is underwriting the purchases is new.

By: Brant