India acquires missile tracing Green Pine radar from Israel

In a bid to bolster its defences against missiles, India has acquired the advanced Green Pine radars from Israel, but no headway has been made on acquisition of spy satellites or anti missile shield as these systems are still under development by Tel Aviv, Defence Secretary Yogendera Narain said today.

"After discussions for the past three to four years, we have acquired a green pine radar", Narain said adding that the radar, which is mainly used in the role of Air-borne Warning and Control system (AWACS) when mounted on a flying plaform, would be used for " Advanced Research" purposes.

While confirming that a high level Israeli Defence delegation had recently visited India, Narain, when asked to comment on media reports that New Delhi had requested Israel for Ofek spy satellite and Arrow anti-missile said talks had not centered on these systems as they were not operational yet.

On the Israeli Phalcon AWACs project, the defence secretary who was speaking on the sidelines of a function to flag-in the successful NCC expedition to Bnadarpunch peak in Garwhal Himalayas said these were highly operational matters and could not be disclosed.

Narain said as part of moves to check inflitration across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, the defence ministry had cleared purchase of all varieties of night vision devices in large numbers.

New Delhi, June 28, 2002 (PTI)