India, Israel ink Phalcon early warning radar deal

[JohnLocke]

India, Israel ink Phalcon early warning radar deal
Friday, March 5, 2005
Reuters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India signed a $1.1 billion deal with Israel on Friday to buy three Phalcon early warning radar systems, an Indian official said.
"The deal was signed today and we have to make the first advance payment within 45 days," a defence ministry spokesman said.
The two countries struck a preliminary deal in October and made further progress in January.
The Phalcon can pick up aircraft, including at low altitude, hundreds of kilometres away in any weather, day or night. It can also intercept and decode radio transmissions, anticipating in many cases the weaponry an enemy might deploy.
The Phalcon technology would enable India to pry deep into the territory of arch-rival Pakistan, which has repeatedly expressed concern at growing India-Israel defence ties.

Read the rest here.
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So, is the deal good or bad?

[drdon326]

1. Well....

thats one way to get a poll onto i/p.

[JohnLocke]

2. Heh.

I'll bet you that some people will see the word "Israel" and automatically vote "bad." Even though it is a radar program, not a weapon, and will be used defensively... :eyes:

[drdon326]

3. Oh....Noooooooo way !!

lol

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wonk]

11. And some people will see the word "Israel" and automatically vote "good".

I didn't vote. It's good for Israel and India in the short run and bad for Pakistan, and in the long run it's just another escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan, which could be bad for India as well if Pakistan feels so threatened that they resort to a first strike nuclear policy and initiate a nuclear war with India. Neither binary option in your poll takes that into account.

It's obvious that you enjoy polling, as you sure do a lot of it here. Might I suggest you make a habit of including an "other" category in your polls? Even if your world view is black and white some of us are aware that there are almost always shades of gray involved.

[MikeGalos]

12. The interesting question is

Whether the people voting no to a Russian/Israeli plane would also have voted no to the US selling India the equivalent AWACS.

For once, I'd guess a lot of the votes really aren't as much automatic condemnation of Israel as automatic condemnation of modernizing a "cute" non-Western nation.

[JohnLocke]

4. So, who here voted no?

:eyes:

[drdon326]

6. I know who voted yes.

.

[Forkboy]

7. I voted good

though I wish a "nuetral" option had been given. :shrug:

[drdon326]

8. You voted good???

I knew we were getting along better lately.

[JohnLocke]

9. Kick

[Darranar]

10. Good news, most likely.