Israel training India and China

[Guest guest]

"Indian military experts, questioned by DEBKA-Net-Weekly, reveal

that some of the Chinese specialists received their electronic

warfare training from Israeli instructors in China. The sources rate

Chinese electronic equipment as far inferior to India's."

 

 

>From DEBKA-Net-Weekly of June 7 on India-Israeli Military Ties

8 June: According to DEBKA-Net- Weekly's military sources in New

Delhi, a group of Israel electronic warfare experts is helping the

Indian army set up and operate six early warning stations along the

750-km Line of Control dividing disputed Kashmir, for picking up

movements of military forces, armed men and explosives on the

Pakistani side, and jamming the electronic surveillance instruments

Pakistan trains on Indian territory. These stations are backed up by

smaller electronic tracking and command centers, some mobile, and 10

bases operating Israel-made unmanned aerial vehicles armed with anti-

tank weapons systems capable of demolishing fortifications, as well

as reconnaissance.

According to our sources in New Delhi, India is the only country to

which Israel has sold drones of its manufacture that are capable of

firing missiles, while also training local operators in their use.

The pilot-less aircraft can stay aloft on reconnaissance and

interception missions for up to 36 hours and penetrate as far as 800

km (500 miles) into Pakistan. The plane Pakistan air force jets shot

down Saturday was just inside the frontier over the Punjab town of

Lahore.

The burgeoning military exchanges between India and Israel, going

back 12 years, have placed more than one group of Israeli personnel

inside troubled Kashmir.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources in the subcontinent report

another group instructing Indian officers in the operation of the

Arrow intercept missile's Green Pine radar, the most effective

system in India's arsenal for detecting the launch of a Pakistani

nuclear-tipped missile. Indian defense minister George Fernandes has

urgently applied through the Indian-Israeli liaison officer General

Uzi Dayan for a third Green Pine system, even on a year's loan, for

deployment south of New Delhi, across from Pakistan's Baluchistan

and Sindh provinces.

Israel is in a dilemma. While eager to become India's top supplier

of advanced weapons systems and glad of the developing bilateral

relationship, Israel will be hard put to find a spare Green Pine

system in its emergency anti-missile arsenal – even for tens of

millions of dollars – given the perilous Middle East situation,

current and potential. Israeli defense chiefs must prepare for a

possible US military offensive against Iraq in the coming months

bringing forth an Iraqi reprisal against Israeli targets. (See

separate article on American war preparations.)

This radar system was developed as a vital component of Israel's

anti-missile defenses.

Israel will reply to the Indian request after checking first with

Washington, given that the Arrow and its systems are a co-

production.

Across the Kashmir border, Chinese electronic

warfare experts are instructing Pakistani officers. Indian military

experts, questioned by DEBKA-Net-Weekly, reveal that some of the

Chinese specialists received their electronic warfare training from

Israeli instructors in China. The sources rate Chinese electronic

equipment as far inferior to India's.

Outside Kashmir, at air bases in western and northern India, Israeli

air force flight and bombing instructors are teaching Indian pilots,

especially reservists called up for duty, how to use smart bombs and

advanced weapons systems precisely and effectively. India recently

bought a large stock of smart air-to-ground missiles from Israel as

well as from other countries, for precision- and carpet-bombing of

terror bases and Pakistani military bases in a full-scale war.

The heightened Israeli military presence in India is stoking one of

Pakistan's deepest forebodings. Recalling how Israel bombed Iraq's

first nuclear reactor to extinction exactly 21 years ago this week,

Pakistani leaders fear the Israeli air force will divulge to a

select group of Indian flight crews the most advanced methods for

destroying atomic reactors and weapons depots.

Iran appears to share this concern.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources say that, in mid-May, Iranian

military intelligence asked Pakistan to verify information received

that an Israeli bomber squadron had arrived in south India, possibly

assigned with knocking out Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, now in

the last stages of construction by the Russians. Iran believes

Israel has already carried out one attempt, which failed.

Israel naval officers are also to be found in naval bases on India's

Arabian Sea coast. Under top-secret naval cooperation accords,

Israel has supplied India with ship-to-ship and cruise missiles,

along with instructors, that can hit strategic targets deep inside

Pakistani territory. Another secret military cooperation agreement

provides for a joint Indian-Israeli naval presence in the Arabian

Sea and the Indian Ocean approaches to the Persian Gulf.