U.S. to supervise Indo-Israel radar deal

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) JUNE 28. The rumpus between Israel and the United States over the sale of an airborne radar warning and command system (AWACS) to China is likely to have repercussions for agreements between Israel and India for military supplies. India is reportedly among the 27 countries whose arms purchases and contracts the U.S. wants to be briefed about. Specifically, the Israeli ``Oren Yarok'' AWACS system the Government of India is evaluating could be subject to the new U.S. supervisory mechanisms.

According to a report in Haaretz the U.S. has demanded and obtained Israel's agreement to consult with officials in Washington before supplying the whole radar system to India. The Israeli AWACS system is, according to sources in New Delhi, currently being favoured over the Russian system which was being looked into earlier. Trials of the Israeli phased array radar system have reportedly been conducted. The radar system, according to Haaretz, uses technology identical to that of the Phalcon system that Israel is under contract to supply to China and mounted on a Russian-built IL-76 platform.

Israel had informed the Pentagon about its China contract four years ago but it has come under scrutiny in the recent months. The House of Representative passed a resolution expressing its disapproval of the contract. This was a milder punishment than what the head of the relevant appropriations committee had apparently wanted to impose. At one point this Congressman had threatened to cut off interest benefits from the annual military aid package the U.S. gives to Israel. This aid cut would have been roughly equivalent to the value of the China AWACS deal. But the pressure continues and the Israeli Government is said to be contemplating only two options: either cancel the contract or supply just the one unit and no more though the contract does envisage further purchases.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, is reportedly biding time hoping that a change in circumstances will make the U.S. look more favourably on the China contract. He can either wait till the U.S. presidential elections are over and staunch opponents of the China deal, the Defence Secretary, Mr. William Cohen, for instance, leave office. Mr. Barak can also hope that a possible breakthrough in the negotiations with the Palestinians will leave the U.S. administration so happy that they will overlook this controversy. In either case the resurrection of the China contract might have nothing to do with the supervisory mechanism for the India-related deals that Israel has also agreed to.

As it is the U.S. administration supervises arms supplies from Israel to India to ensure that such supplies do not entail transfer of technologies of U.S. origin or those jointly developed by them and Israel. The additional supervisory mechanism will now cover the sale of technologies indigenously developed by Israel as well. This represents a climb-down in the Israeli position. Their earlier stand was that they would not transfer any technology which the U.S. had a hand in developing but at the same time had insisted on the right to transfer indigenously developed technology without external intervention. However, the current climb-down might not be the end of the matter.

Israel believes that the United States' declared justification for its opposition to the China contract is an eye- wash. The U.S. argument is that the supply to China could jeopardise its ally Taiwan, and even possibly U.S. troops and fleets. The Israelis apparently believe that the real reasons are not strategic but commercial. U.S. defence contractors are prevented from selling arms to most of the 27 countries on the ``problem state'' list. These countries are also among the most avid purchasers of arms in the world. Israeli arms though expensive are competitive compared to U.S. weaponry and technologically near equal. The real point, the Israelis feel, is about protecting market share than anything else.

Besides depicting the U.S. pressure as stemming from commercial rather than strategic considerations the Israelis can also appeal to their supporters in the U.S. through another argument. The supplies of arms to India or China provide the funds without which indigenous weapons production in Israel would be impossible. This argument, that Israel needs to develop its own cutting edge in weapons technology despite the U.S. aid package, is one that has had resonance amongst Israel's American supporters over the years.

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