India asked for Israeli shield for Pak Scuds

Early this month, Major-General Amos Yaron, director-general of Israel's Defence Ministry, flew in secretly twice to meet his counterparts in New Delhi.

Yaron's visits were in response to urgent Indian requests for a spy satellite and an anti-missile system. Yaron, says a recent issue of Jane's Foreign Report, had to turn down both requests.

Jane's reported that India wanted to "buy or borrow" Israel's newly-launched Ofek-5 spy satellite. Yaron said Israel needed to keep it on an Iran-Syria-Iraq orbit, that it could not, even temporarily, be sent over Kashmir at the present time — as New Delhi wanted.

Yaron also turned down India's request for the Arrow anti-missile system — but only because the weapon was not yet ready.

The nature of the requests, say Indian analysts, indicates New Delhi was trying to find a quick counter to the threat of Pakistani missiles. Islamabad carried out two missile tests at the end of May as a warning to New Delhi.

The Jane's report indicates the urgent requests by India were an attempt to accelerate the procurement of two of the four components of the missile defence system it has been negotiating to get from Israel.

The third component, the Green Pine radar, is already in India. Sources say two such radars were provided to India several weeks ago. The fourth component, the Phalcon airborne early warning system, has been ordered.

Israel designed the Ofek-5 satellite to monitor Syrian and Iranian missiles. The Israeli technology is a perfect match for Indian needs, say analysts, because it is designed to track and destroy Scud missiles and all Pakistani missiles are Scud variants.

The Israeli Embassy in New Delhi said it had no knowledge of Yaron's visits to India.

Senior members of the Indian Government have made no secret of the view that India needs to have an anti-ballistic missile defence system, especially given Pakistan's rocket arsenal. The recent border crisis brought this into sharper focus.

Diplomatic sources say the long-term obstacles to the sale of the Arrow and the Phalcon, both of which have US technology, are sections of the State Department and Democratic senators who still hope to revive the CTBT. The Pentagon and the White House are more favourably inclined.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, during his first visit to India, had said all nations should have missile shields.

New Delhi, June 27, 2002