INDIA: India yesterday signed a $1 billion contract for three Israeli Phalcon airborne early warning radar systems in a deal that threatens to trigger an arms race in the region.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Russian transport aircraft equipped with the Phalcon radar would be delivered within 44 months of an advance payment to Israel, which has become India's second largest weapons provider after Russia.
The arrival of the Phalcons will make India the only country in the region with an "eye in the sky" capability, giving it a substantial edge over nuclear adversaries Pakistan and China.
Israel will buy three Ilyushin-76 cargo aircraft from Uzbekistan, which will be fitted with new high-powered engines in Russia.
The aircraft will be mounted in Israel with the Phalcon system that is capable of tracking up to 60 targets over a 700-800 km range.
Pakistan criticised India's Phalcon purchase saying it would accentuate the strategic imbalance in south Asia: "Such transactions undermine the spirit of peace and stability being pushed by Pakistan, India and the international community in the region." India and Pakistan are engaged in peace talks after coming close to war two years ago.
"The arrival of such a sophisticated system in our neighbourhood is certainly a cause for concern to us. It will also whip up a new arms race in the region," said the director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan.
In a separate development, an Israeli intelligence unit began its first security surveillance course for the Indian military as part of burgeoning defence relations between Delhi and Tel Aviv.
Israel has agreed to provide India with high resolution pictures of the Kashmir region and the line of control that divides the war-torn region between India and Pakistan from its photo reconnaissance Ofeq-5 satellites.