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Israeli Missile Defense System for India
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| Parts
of the Indian spy plane downed by Pakistan on June 7, were
made in Israel
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By
IOL
South Asia
Correspondent
NEW DELHI
, June 29 (IslamOnline) -
India
officially acknowledged Friday, June 28, that it had acquired Green
Pine radars from Israel, a vital component of an advanced anti-missile
shield. These radars are mounted on military aircraft and are
appropriately called Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) to
track incoming missiles and aircraft.
Friday’s
announcement makes public a four-decade long Indo-Israeli security
cooperation which
India
has deliberately kept low-key to avoid antagonizing Arab and Muslim
world and the domestic Muslim population.
This
cooperation has helped
India
at crucial moments like the 1965 war, while it has helped
Israel
by preventing proliferation of nuclear and missile technology from
Pakistan
to Arab countries as well provide my a vital market for Israeli defense
products.
“After
discussions for the past three to four years, we have acquired a Green
Pine radar,” Defense Secretary Yogendra Narain said. Meanwhile,
Jane’s Foreign Report, quoted by The Hindustan Times today suggested
that
India
had got a pair of the radars rather than one as Secretary Narain said.
Jane’s
said Director General of Israeli Defense Ministry Amos Yaron secretly
visited
India
twice early this month responding to India’s urgent request for these weapons. Though such visits are routine
now, the Israeli Embassy in
New Delhi
denied knowledge of any such development.
Similar
visits to
Israel
have been paid by Indian defense officials in recent past. The current
presidential candidate and defense scientist APJ Abdul Kalam visited
Israel
in 1996 and 1997 to advance security ties between the two countries.
India,
at the height of current tension with Pakistan, wanted to acquire the
anti-missile Arrow missile from Israel to intercept and destroy
incoming missiles from Pakistan. Israelis turned down the request
because the weapon was not yet ready.
There
are other hitches as well. Arrow, which has U.S. technology, needs
American clearance before transfer to a third country. Such transfers
violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) whose observance
the U.S. is strict about. This is the reason America had been trying
to prevent China (rather unsuccessfully) from supplying medium-range
missiles to Saudi Arabia.
However,
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s remark while
visiting India earlier this month that all nations should have a
missile-shield gives some hope that India would ultimately be able to
acquire these weapons.
Israel
was unable to provide another component of the missile defense system,
the Ofek-5 spy satellite which tracks missile silos and zero in on
every missile in the boost phase itself, allowing enough time for
Arrow to intercept and destroy every missile on their territory and
unleash the nuclear (as well as chemical or biological) warheads on
them.
Israel,
according to Jane’s, is reported to have declined saying they could
not provide India with the satellite as it is deployed at present for
watching Iran, Iraq and Syria. Ofek-5 completes the orbit of earth
every 90 minutes and is said to be one of the most reliable military
satellites.
So
far Israel has not been able to provide India with the early warning
radar plane Phalcon, but The Hindustan Times said today it would be
available within two years. India’s anxiety to acquire these weapons
has grown since Pakistan tested its ballistic missiles at the height
of Indo-Pak tension.
On
June 15, Indian daily the Indian Express said that India is looking
for U.S. made sensors to detect infiltrations because the ones that
Israeli supplied do not work.
Israeli-made
sensors lie embedded, abandoned and dysfunctional, along several
stretches on the Indo-Pak border, said the report.
Israeli
vendors, who have been holding negotiations with New Delhi for bulk
supplies, have now been told that their equipment is unsuitable for
Indian conditions, the paper said.
The
feedback given to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after the trials
ended in July-August 2001 said that due to grass and movement of large
numbers of wild animals the system gives false alarms and gets
defective mainly during monsoons. The report added that the equipment
has not been found of "much use" and so far, only one
detection was made!
Parts
of the Indian spy plane downed by Pakistan Friday, June 7, were made
in Israel, Pakistani officials found out.
The
transmitter assembly of the plane had “Israel Aircraft
Industry" (IAI) printed on it, Pakistani newspaper, News
International reported.
India
obtained such planes from Israel two years ago and used them for
spying purpose.
India
and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992 and have a warming
relationship, to the dismay of many Arab and Islamic countries.
Both
India and Israel have denied media reports that Israeli experts are
helping India combat a 12-year-old Islamic insurgency in Kashmir,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
In
July 2001, Israel's Haaretz daily newspaper reported that the Israel
Aircraft Industries (IAI) signed an estimated two-billion-dollar
weapons contract with India's defense ministry.
Under
the terms of the agreement, the IAI, which works in cooperation with
Israel's Defense Ministry, will deliver aircraft, radar systems and
surface-to-surface missiles, via India's largest defense contractor,
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), the paper said.
The
agreement, signed between IAI officials and the Indian Defense
Ministry, would guarantee an Israeli supply of sophisticated radar
systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and an upgrading of Indian
aircraft with avionics systems, the Indian spokesman said. IAI, which
specializes in high tech weaponry, will transfer Israeli technology to
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
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