Eurasia Press & News
Exclusive: Moog in Wolverhampton was targeted by pro-Palestine activists in August. We can now reveal the company has been exporting aircraft components to Israel’s ministry of defence.
On 26 August, four activists from the group ‘Palestinian Martyrs for Justice’ crashed through the gates of a factory in Wolverhampton and climbed onto its rooftop.
The target was Moog, a US-owned engineering company which designs and manufactures components for military aircraft worldwide.
Wearing t-shirts with the faces of Palestinians killed by Israel, the activists proceeded to cut through Moog’s roof covering and peer into the factory floor below.
They accused the company of supplying Israel’s largest arms firm Elbit Systems with aircraft parts “used to train Israeli pilots to fly F-16 and F-35 fighter jets”.
Declassified and The Ditch had previously reported how Moog sent at least ten shipments of trainer aircraft parts to an Elbit Systems site in Israel between December 2024 and July 2025.
But it can now be revealed that Moog has also been directly supplying Israel’s ministry of defence with components used to train Israeli pilots to fly advanced fighter jets.
Cargo documents expose how the aerospace firm sent two shipments for the M-346 Lavi programme in July 2025, with the address corresponding to Israel’s defence ministry in Tel Aviv.
The M-346 Lavi is a high-performance aircraft designed to train Israeli pilots to fly jets including the F-16 and F-35.
It is estimated that the value of the two shipments could be over £200,000. The total value of Moog exports to Israel since December 2024 is likely in excess of £1m.
2,000lb bombs
The revelation details how the UK government, through its arms export regime, is facilitating the training of Israeli pilots to fly the aircraft dropping 2,000lb bombs on civilians.
This is despite the government having claimed it suspended export licences for equipment that could be used by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Last week, trade minister Chris Bryant attempted to justify this approach, saying: “The assessment is that the training of an aircraft pilot on such equipment would take so long that they wouldn’t be the people that would be engaged in fighter combat in Gaza”.
Bryant did not clarify how the government reached this conclusion, but it appears to be misleading.
A US air force report recently estimated that it could take four to six months to train Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets. These same aircraft have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza, including in an attack on British doctors in January 2024.
Moreover, Bryant’s argument falsely suggests a known end date of the Gaza genocide, and appears to assume that Israeli pilots will only be using UK-made equipment at the beginning of their training.
Declassified approached the Department for Business and Trade as well as the Foreign Office for clarification on Bryant’s comments.
We specifically asked whether Bryant’s comments accurately reflected the government’s position, and on what basis it is estimated that Israeli pilots training on UK-made components will not go on to use fighter aircraft in Gaza.
The trade department failed to provide any meaningful answers, while the Foreign Office did not respond at all.
M-346 Lavi
Israel received its first M-346 Lavi in 2014, with an additional 29 arriving over the following two years. They are hosted at Hatzerim airbase near Be’er Sheva.
Promotional content shows how the jet not only trains pilots to fly, but also helps them master combat techniques. It is equipped with a “digital avionics system” which is modelled on advanced military aircraft such as the F-16, F-22 and F-35.
Its cockpit includes a head-up display which is common in fighter jets, and the aircraft can be armed with practice air-to-ground bombs and a gun pod for live fire training.
One of the first instructors to use the jet, Brigadier General Avi Maor, has said: “It’s very easy to make the transition from the M-346 to a real jet fighter because it’s very similar to the fighters.
“You learn how to fight and then do the transition to the real fighter. You don’t need to learn how to fight again with the real fighter, so you save a lot of hours”.
By 2022, the Israeli air force had racked up 50,000 flight hours with the M-346 Lavi, making it the largest user of the jet in the world.
In addition to supplying parts for the M-346, Moog has contributed to the global F-35 programme.
Previous company annual reports note how Moog “provides actuators, power drive electronics, control electronics and software” for the F-35 fighter jet.
Moog was approached for comment.
