Murphy's Law: Keep Special Secrets Secret

May 8, 2020: The U.S. Army has found itself in an embarrassing situation after spending a billion dollars to buy two Israel Iron Dome missile defense batteries. The problem is the army refuses to put their Iron Dome systems into service because Israel refused to turn over the source code for the novel anti-rocket/mortar system. The army says it needs the source code in order to make Iron Dome part of the army air defense system. There is no such integrated system and if there were you would not need the source code but merely an API (Application Programming Interface) that provides the software links between one system and others.
The army also expressed doubts about being able to use Iron Dome in other countries, like Iraq or Afghanistan, without source code. But Israel has sold dozens of Iron Dome batteries to export customers like Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, India, Romania and Singapore with possible sales to NATO, South Korea and (very discreetly) Saudi Arabia. The sale to the Czech Republic was contingent on Iron Dome being capable of integration into the NATO air defense system, which includes many different systems. That is being done with an API. The sale to Singapore, like the possible (or already completed) sale to Saudi Arabia was handled confidentially so as not to anger nearby Moslem nations. Singapore has Malaysia and Indonesia to worry about and Saudi Arabia has a lot more potentially offended Moslem neighbors. Such sales are not entirely secret. Iron Dome cannot be disguised as something else and one Moslem nation, Azerbaijan, has already openly purchased Iron Dome with no ill diplomatic effects. The sale to the Czech Republic means Iron Dome would be “integrated†with nearby NATO nations who use American air defense systems.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20200508.aspx
