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| Middle East |
| U.S. backtracks, okays Israeli sale of Phalcon to India |
| 2003-05-22 |
| Edited for brevity. Washington has lifted all its objections to Israel's selling a Phalcon airborne radar system to India and has given the Defense Ministry a green light for the $1 billion deal, without any conditions or limitations. A year-and-a-half ago, Israel and India agreed to the deal, and the Americans gave their approval in principle. But in early 2002, the U.S. asked Israel to postpone the sale because of rising tension between India and Pakistan. It has since been frozen, waiting for U.S. approval. Why the phunny spelling for "Phalcon"? The Phalcon is a long-range Israeli-made radar mounted on a Russian-built cargo plane. The radar will extend the range of the Indian air force, enabling very long-range identification of targets and control over the weapons aimed at them. There is no American equipment on the plane, but Israel coordinates its defense sales with Washington since it vetoed a similar sale to China three years ago, sparking a diplomatic crisis with Beijing. The White House is also considering lifting limits on Israel exporting defense systems against ballistic missiles. If those restrictions are lifted, India will be able to purchase Arrow missile systems, which were developed with American financing and therefore require American approval for sales. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #11 Thats red latex. It's only good for one mission then its tossed. But there are all kinds of colors and shapes, depending on the mission. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-05-23 11:47:52 |
| #10 LOL! That's a coffee alert. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-05-22 17:40:55 |
| #9 You mean like this? |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-05-22 17:17:12 |
| #8 They should have painted the nose red. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-05-22 15:03:43 |
| #7 Make sure you fly this thing with lots of nose-up trim! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-22 14:40:16 |
| #6 Jeebus, Dar. With that pimple on its nose, I bet it's loads of fun to fly. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-22 13:22:28 |
| #5 Duh--All I needed to do was search on "Phalcon": |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-22 12:58:59 |
| #4 Lucky--Wonder if the Phalcon is a derivative of the Seascan? That fits your description quite well! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-22 12:56:10 |
| #3 There's something phalic about Phalcon. From what I can tell its has a sort of circumsized helmeted nose. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-05-22 11:09:06 |
| #2 Good point, Frank. Maybe we should have tried selling them some Novas, too, since they don't speak Spanish! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-22 09:25:15 |
| #1 because $1 Billion worth of Ford "Falcons" would be a bad mililtary investment? This way the politicians know what they're getting |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-05-22 09:05:34 |