Reports conflicted today over whether the United States would try to prevent Israel from selling the Arrow anti-missile system — which Israel and the United States developed together — to India (see GSN, Jan. 15).

A senior Israeli diplomat said Israel remains resolved to persuade the United States to allow the sale, despite U.S. statements that it could violate the Missile Technology Control Regime, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“We can convince [the United States] the Arrow is not included in the MTCR,” the diplomat said.  “People in the [Bush] administration are not too happy to see any weapons sold to India or Pakistan right now.  It appears they are using MTCR as an excuse.”

Israeli officials said the payload and range of the Arrow are too small to fall within MTCR regulations, which impose export restrictions for systems that can carry a 500-kilogram payload for 300 kilometers or more.  The Arrow was designed for short distances, the Israeli diplomat said, adding that it could reach a 300-kilometer range but might not be able to carry a 500-kilogram load that far.  Israeli officials also noted that the Arrow system is for defensive purposes.

However, a senior U.S. administration official said “the Arrow is an MTCR category-one missile,” which would place it under MTCR export restrictions.  The Arrow could also be transformed into an offensive weapon, the official said. 

“The problem is MTCR defines the missile as having a payload capability at a given range, and when the warhead drops on your head, the fact that it says, ‘I’m really a [defensive] ABM missile’ doesn’t make things any better — especially now, given the situation in the subcontinent,” he said (Janine Zacharia, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 16).

Contrary to the Post, the Times of India reported today that the Bush administration said it would support the Arrow sale.  The Times said there was a general assumption in Washington that an anonymous U.S. State Department official quoted in yesterday’s Times as opposing the sale was only expressing his or her own views, rather than describing U.S. policy (Chidanand Rajghatta, Times of India, Jan. 16).

Phalcon AWACS

Meanwhile, the United States might try to prevent Israel from selling the Phalcon AWACS airborne surveillance system to India, despite U.S. authorization “in principle,” a U.S. administration official said, according to the Post.  U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the United States supports transferring the system to India and plans to consult with Israel on the “capabilities and timing related to that.”

The United States blocked Israel from transferring the AWACS system to China in 2000 (Zacharia, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 16).

The Times also reported today that the White House had confirmed its support for Israel’s request to sell the AWACS system to India, although there was some U.S. concern about the timing of the sale (Rajghatta, Times of India, Jan. 16).

India to Ask United States for Anti-Missile System Assistance

India is also planning to seek U.S. assistance to develop an anti-missile system to cover India, the India Statesman reported today.  When the United States announced that it would withdraw from the ABM Treaty, U.S. officials said the benefits of a missile defense system could be shared with other countries, the Statesman reported (see GSN, Dec. 13).

“The U.S.A. has pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.  They have also spoken of sharing national missile defense technology with other countries.  We will discuss the issue with them,” a senior Indian official said. 

U.S. assistance would make developing an anti-missile system cheaper than current efforts to develop a system indigenously, officials said (Srinjoy Chowdhury, India Statesman, Jan. 16).

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