Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MILTECH
Hints of 'messy quagmire' over Israeli arms sales
by Staff Writers
Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Jun 25, 2013


Israel's export of arms to Pakistan and four Arab states, as recently reported by a British government agency, has revived concerns the Jewish state is using arms deals as a tool to promote diplomacy as it has done so often in the past.

The reported sales to Muslim Pakistan, in particular, carry "the potential to develop into a really messy diplomatic quagmire" with India, Pakistan's archrival and one of Israel's biggest customers for weapons systems and other military equipment, Indian analyst Alvite Singh Ningthoujam warned in a commentary published by the Jerusalem Post.

"Even though present-day India is concentrating on grooming its indigenous arms production policy, the bulk of its military equipment is still imported," he noted. "This is where Israel has carved its own niche.

"But if clandestine military sales to Pakistan exist and are to continue, then for obvious reasons, India will not approve," said Ningthoujam, who served as Fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center of Israel's Bar-Ilan University (2010-11).

India is the world's biggest arms importer and accounts for 10 percent of global arms imports. Its total military expenditure in 2011 -- excluding nuclear weapons -- was $44.2 billion, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.

A British report released June 14 by the British Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees security exports, said Israeli arms, all incorporating British components, were exported to Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco from 2008 to 2012.

The exports included radar systems, electronic warfare suites, fighter jet components and cockpit head-up displays.

Israel and Pakistan both denied Islamabad bought military equipment from Israel. Egypt, which signed a landmark peace treaty with Israel in 1979, is the only country listed by the U.K. agency with which Israel has diplomatic relations.

Israel's defense sector is overseen by the Defense Ministry, which over the years has clearly had considerable latitude in terms of arms sales, often to unsavory or dubious Third World regimes and organizations that are publicly shunned by the world's leading defense establishments.

These often secret, and sometimes shady, dealings were intended to provide Israel, ringed by hostile Arab states for much of its existence since 1948, with friendly powers to break its isolation and develop intelligence alliances.

"Historically," Ningthoujam observed, "Israel's establishment of closer ties with other countries has often been accompanied or facilitated by military relations.

"Arms sales and other forms of security relations occupied a prominent position in Israel's relations with Iran under the shah, South Africa during the apartheid era, Taiwan, Latin America, Turkey and India," with whom relations were established in 1992.

For India, a major buyer of Israeli weapons and other advanced defense systems, the assertion that the Jewish state is selling military equipment to Pakistan could have immense diplomatic and economic repercussions.

New Delhi has made no public comment about the British allegations. But Ningthoujam observed that if the report "is proved to be true, it could damage Indian-Israeli defense ties" that have produced Israel arms deals worth $10 billion over the last decade and could jeopardize future sales of the same magnitude.

New Delhi plans to spend as much as $150 billion at home and abroad in the next decade to upgrade its armed forces.

India's government and military chiefs have urged an accelerated drive to build up a national defense industry to reduce military imports and is pressing key suppliers like Israel to participate in joint ventures if they want a piece of India's defense business.

Over the years, Israel has racked up some major arms deals with New Delhi.

These include the 2004 sale of three Phalcon early warning aircraft built by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries for $1.1 billion and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems' 2009 contract for 18 Spyder surface-to-air missile systems worth $1 billion.

India wants to buy Rafael's famed Iron Dome anti-missile system, which has been tested in combat against short-range Palestinian rockets and scored a kill rate of 85 percent of all missiles engaged.

The Indians have also been eyeing the Arrow-2 anti-ballistic missile system built by IAI and U.S. aerospace manufacturer Boeing Co.

New Delhi favors a joint production agreement on Iron Dome between India's Defense Research and Development Organization and Rafael and other Israeli contractors.

.


Related Links
The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MILTECH
MEADS Tactical BMC4I Software Demonstrates Interoperability in NATO Exercises
Orlando, FL (SPX) Jun 24, 2013
The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) has successfully demonstrated network interoperability with NATO systems during Joint Project Optic Windmill (JPOW) exercises held in May and June. In these JPOW exercises, MEADS tactical battle management command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (BMC4I) software connected to a NATO test site in the Netherlands using a tran ... read more


MILTECH
Metamorphosis of Moon's Water Ice Explained

Scientists use gravity, topographic data to find unmapped moon craters

Australian team maps Moon's hidden craters

LADEE Arrives at Wallops for Moon Mission

MILTECH
Mars had oxygen-rich atmosphere 4,000 million years ago

Billion-Pixel View of Mars Comes From Curiosity Rover

Study: Mars may have had ancient oxygen-rich atmosphere

Opportunity Recovers From Another Flash-Related Reset

MILTECH
NASA Bill Would 'End Reliance on Russia,' Nix Asteroid Capture Project

Britain shut down UFO desk after finding no threat: files

New Zealand emerges as guinea pig for global tech firms

NASA announces eight new astronauts, half are women

MILTECH
Shenzhou 10 Returns Safely To Earth

Home of space dreams

China's Shenzhou-10 spacecraft returns to Earth

Xi vows bigger stride in space exploration

MILTECH
Russian cosmonauts conduct space station tasks in spacewalk

Accelerating ISS Science With Upgraded Payload Operations Integration Center

Strange Flames on the ISS

Europe's space truck docks with ISS

MILTECH
SpaceX Will Launch Turkmenistan Satellite For Thales Alenia Space

New Mexico Space Grant Consortium student experiments blast into space from Spaceport America

Arianespace Soyuz Puts Four O3b Networks' Birds Into Orbit

Four O3b Network birds integrated to Arianespace Soyuz launcher

MILTECH
Retirement for planet-hunting space probe

Trio of 'super Earths' in a star's habitable zone

Study finds planets in habitable zone around a distant star

NASA's Hubble Uncovers Evidence of Farthest Planet Forming From its Star

MILTECH
Ames Laboratory scientists solve riddle of strangely behaving magnetic material

Laser can identify substances, could be military tool

Disney Research creates techniques for high quality, high resolution stereo panoramas

Cheap, color, holographic video




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement