Editorial: Israel 'Ready and Willing' to Share Technology With India

By Akhilesh Pillalamarri

India’s Home Affairs Minister recently visited Israel to discuss military cooperation and technology exchange.

India’s Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh recently visited Israel and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Thursday. The Ministry of Home Affairs in India is charged with maintaining internal security, peace, and harmony. Singh arrived in Israel after attending the 83rd General Assembly of Interpol in Monaco.

Singh’s trip to Israel is part of a strong Indian effort to improve ties with Israel on not just the rhetorical level, but on the level of tangible cooperation. While Singh was in Israel, former Israeli President Shimon Peres met India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Reiterating the words exchanged between Israel and India when Modi met Netanyahu in New York in September, Modi told Peres his of strong desire to strengthen ties with Israel and learn from it in a variety of ways. In addition to weapons and security issues, Modi noted that Israeli agricultural technologies such as drip irrigation are extremely useful in an India that increasingly faces water shortages. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: US Reassures China as 2,500 Marines Head to Australia

SYDNEY — The United States stressed Tuesday it welcomes the rise of China and wants to work constructively with Beijing as it signed a deal to deploy 2,500 Marines to Australia as part of its “rebalance” to Asia.

China bristled when the agreement to deploy Marines to the northern city of Darwin was first announced by President Barack Obama in 2011.

But after signing the deal at the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) in Sydney, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was not interested in conflict with the Asian powerhouse.

“We welcome the rise of China as a global partner, hopefully as a powerful economy, as a full participating constructive member of the international community,” he said.

“We are not seeking conflict and confrontation. And our hope is that China will likewise take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of it and be that cooperative partner.”

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier defended the deal to bring US Marines and Air Force personnel to the Northern Territory, denying it was aimed at China which is embroiled in maritime disputes with neighbors.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Editorial: India - Diversifying Arms Purchases

MQ-9 Reaper (File Photo)

By Siddharth Sivaraman and Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan

India should increase its military imports from the U.S., particularly drones.

India needs to diversify its arms imports. Although it is one of the world’s largest arms importers, most of India’s weapons come from Russia. Over the last five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia accounted for about $15 billion of the $20 billion in arms that India imported, or about three-quarters. That level of dependence is unhealthy: One of the reasons why India bought the Jaguar Bomber from a European consortium in the 1970s was the concern that India was becoming dependent on Soviet weapons.

India began diversifying when it awarded a contract for advanced air force fighters to France, though negotiations for the Rafale have dragged on interminably and have yet to be completed. India also buys some significant quantities of Israeli weapons.

But New Delhi has not sufficiently tapped the U.S., without question the country with the most advanced military technology in the world. Although the U.S. is India’s second largest source of weapons, it accounted for less than seven percent of India’s arms imports in value terms over the last five years. It is time that India diversified its arms sources by getting more of its weapons from the U.S., especially when cutting-edge technology is involved, as in advanced drones.

There are multiple advantages for India in making better use of U.S. weapons options. First, New Delhi could negotiate the development of state-of-the-art drone technologies, in which the U.S. has the most experience, with drones – or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – such as the MQ-8 Fire Scout and/or long-range drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper or even the older Predator B. This would add a new dimension to UAVs with persistent capabilities for India, and it would also help kick start investments in this sector. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: South Korea interested in purchasing Rafael's Iron Dome defense system

Iron Dome (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

Rafael CEO said Iron Dome's success during Operation Protective Edge has fuelled foreign interest in buying it. South Korea is interested in buying the Israeli short-range rocket interceptor Iron Dome, its manufacturer said on Sunday, August 10.

Iron Dome, which uses guided missiles to shoot down the Katyusha-style rockets used by Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists, has scored around a 90 percent success rate in the month-old Operation Protective Edge, Israeli officials and U.S. observers say.

Yedidia Yaari, CEO of Iron Dome's state-owned manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., said the system's performance had fuelled foreign interest in buying it, including by South Korea, which is in an armed standoff with North Korea.

Read the full story at Army Recognition

Editorial: Chinese Hackers Target Israel’s Iron Dome

Iron Dome (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

By Zachary Keck

A PLA cyber unit targeted Israeli defense companies involved in developing the coveted Iron Dome missile defense system.

Chinese military hackers stole information relating to Israel’s much-touted Iron Dome missile defense system, according to a recent report by the cyber security website, Krebs on Security.

“Three Israeli defense contractors responsible for building the ‘Iron Dome’ missile shield currently protecting Israel from a barrage of rocket attacks were compromised by hackers and robbed of huge quantities of sensitive documents pertaining to the shield technology,” the report says, citing analysis by the Columbia, Md.-based threat intelligence firm Cyber Engineering Services Inc. (CyberESI).

The hackers penetrated the systems of three top Israeli defense firms — Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems — between October 2011 and August 2012, according to CyberESI (although the initial phishing emails went out in April 2011). CyberESI says that most of the information the Chinese hackers targeted was “intellectual property pertaining to Arrow III missiles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), ballistic rockets, and other technical documents in the same fields of study.” This and other information led CyberESI to conclude that the hackers were interested in Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system.

The timing of the cyber intrusions is also consistent with this conclusion. The Iron Dome was first deployed in March 2011 and intercepted its first missile from Gaza a month later. That same month is when the first phishing emails were sent to the firms. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: North Korea's Middle East Pivot

By Zachary Keck

North Korea has a long history of funneling weapons to Palestinian and other Middle Eastern militant groups.

Over at China Power, Shannon notes that Beijing is reluctant to get deeply involved in the Middle East. China’s client state in Pyongyang, however, appears to be much less apprehensive.

According to Con Coughlin, the Defense Editor at the London Telegraph, Hamas and North Korea are currently negotiating an arms deal to resupply the Palestinian militant group with missiles it has lost during its current conflict with Israel.

“Security officials say the deal between Hamas and North Korea is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and is being handled by a Lebanese-based trading company with close ties to the militant Palestinian organisation based in east Beirut,” Coughlin reports.

The report, which cites unnamed Western security officials, says that the deal is reportedly for hundreds of missiles and communications equipment. It also claims that Hamas has already provided a down payment on the weapons. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Why China Must Pay Attention to the Israel-Palestine Conflict

By Mu Chunshan

Beijing wants to remain neutral on the Israel-Palestine issue, but Chinese public opinion is increasingly polarized.

Tensions in the Middle East have grown sharply as Israel stages air attacks (and now a ground assault) against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Compared to the high-profile reports on the crisis from the U.S. and other Western countries, China’s official comments are more low-profile and cautious. However, Chinese netizens have showed unusual passion about and interest in this distant, ongoing conflict. What is going on?

To understand netizen attitudes, we first have to understand China’s position on Israel-Palestine relations. For decades, China did not try to stay out of the conflict. Under Mao Zedong, China sided with Palestine. Former Chinese leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping had almost unconditional support for the revolutionary cause led by Yasser Arafat, who was called “an old friend of the Chinese people.” The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) obtained both funds and weapons from China.

The Palestinian case was a rare example of China directly interfering with the affairs of the Middle East. Aside from being an example of China’s idealist foreign policy during this period, support for Palestine also represented Beijing’s political calculations. As Palestine had widespread support from other Arab countries, China’s stance helped it win influence in the third world. Under these circumstances, China was unwilling to accept positive overtures from Israel. Even though Israel was the first country in the Middle East to acknowledge the founding of PRC, the two countries would not establish official diplomatic relations until 1992.

During the 1980s, China began to abandon ideologically-driven diplomacy as part of its reform and opening process. China gradually began to draw closer to Israel. The reason is quite simple: Israel’s defense technology was attractive to China. Israel’s advanced technology and investments also were a good match with China’s developmental needs. Today, China-Israel military exchanges and economic cooperation have become two major pillars for bilateral relations. At the same time, China’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has changed from unilateral condemnation of Israel to a neutral stance. Palestine was not happy, but had no choice but to accept the change.

Nowadays, China is still gradually revising and improving its diplomatic policies. With an increasing focus on diplomacy in the Middle East, China is increasingly called on to take a stand on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: India, Israel Discuss Increased Defense Cooperation

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — India and Israel may reach a new level of defense cooperation under the new government in Delhi, with both sides discussing a list of defense items that could be supplied to India on a government-to-government basis.

Indian Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur discussed the wish list with his Israeli defense counterparts during his July 1-3 visit to Tel Aviv, said an Indian Ministry of Defense official.

“The move to strike government-to-government tie ups with Israel, as was done with the United States, is aimed at fast pacing the procurement of weaponry and avoiding the open competition route, which has been time consuming and laced with controversies” said Nitin Mehta, a defense analyst here.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Editorial: Chinese Involvement in Global Jihad

By Shannon Tiezzi

Interactions between Uyghur militant groups and other terrorist networks pose a growing concern for China.

The Jerusalem Post reports an Israeli analyst has warned a Chinese delegation that Chinese extremists are becoming increasingly involved in international operations. According to the report, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) analyst Jacques Neriah believes that there are “1,000 Chinese jihadists” being trained at a base in Pakistan, and thousands more have joined the fighting in Syria. JCPA director Dore Gold (who is also a special foreign policy advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) warned China that these fighters abroad will pose “certain risks” when they return to China.

Beijing is already well aware of the risks of increased connections between Uyghur terrorist groups and more established organizations such as al-Qaeda or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at Pakistan’s Karachi airport earlier this month. Chinese militant organizations like the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP, considered by some to be the successor group to ETIM) have increasingly interacted with other terrorist networks as they share space in Pakistan’s tribal regions. As ETIM trains with other groups, its own methods have become more sophisticated, including a huge increase in the number of online materials ETIM posts to attract and train new members. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Indo-Israeli Relations Set to Improve

By Kanchi Gupta

Modi’s election could help the two countries solidify their cooperation in trade and defense.

Even though the election manifesto of India’s ruling BJP stresses improving relations with the country’s immediate neighbors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong ties with Israel have raised the possibility of a deeper engagement between both countries. According to news reports, Modi has expressed his desire to “deepen and develop” ties with Israel to Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu. While the Indian National Congress-led government did not initiate any diplomatic outreach towards Israel, Modi visited Tel Aviv in 2006 when he held the post of chief minister in Gujarat. India has collaborated with Israel in many areas, especially counter-terrorism and defense. Gujarat, in particular, has deep infrastructure development and investment links with Israel.

India recognized the State of Israel in 1950 and established de-jure diplomatic ties. But it took until 1992 to establish full diplomatic relations. The Indian leadership was sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle and opposed the creation of a state based on religion. It’s large Muslim population and ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir were critical factors in determining New Delhi’s approach to relations with Israel. They were compounded by the possibility of Arab support for Pakistan in the event India’s relations with Israel improved.

India was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which combined with Israel’s invasion of Sinai in 1956 and the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, also influenced ties. The end of the Cold War and India’s economic liberalization created space for relations with Israel to improve. After the former Soviet Union and China established diplomatic relations with Israel, India announced its decision to follow suit. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: The Unintended Consequences of a Japanese/Israeli Defense Agreement

By Clint Richards

While the agreements are an easy and obvious course of action for Israel, Japan should tread carefully.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Japan on Sunday for a five day visit. He met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, in talks to boost defense and cyberspace cooperation. At a press conference, Netanyahu emphasized their common challenges, specifically the threat from rogue states with nuclear weapons.

The two leaders also signed a joint statement that “expressed their strong hope for the early resolution of various issues of concerns regarding North Korea, including its nuclear development.” Netanyahu also made a clear connection between North Korea’s path to nuclear armament and Iran’s, saying Iran was seeking to ease sanctions while maintaining military capability.

The two leaders also signed an agreement to bolster joint industrial research and development, and eventually weapons development. While Netanyahu praised Japan as technological innovator that Israel could learn from, their shared efforts in cyber warfare are likely to benefit Japan more than Israel.  Israel played a significant part in the Stuxnet cyber attack on Iran, which later reportedly made its way to China. As China’s state-supported cyber warfare capabilities are already well known, Japan will be looking to find an edge by partnering with countries that have their own cyber expertise. However, publically pursuing that technology could have the unwanted effect of attracting further cyber attacks from China in the short term. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: Israeli Company Elbit Systems to provide 12 155mm towed howitzer Soltam Athos to Philippines

Elbit Systems Land and C41, a defense material manufacturer based in Israel, won the bid to supply the Philippines Army more than P368 million worth of artillery, a source privy to the bidding said.

The Israeli Company Elbit Systems will provide 12 pieces of 155 Howitzer canons Soltam Athos with accessories and ammunition.

The ATHOS is an autonomous, computerized 155 mm towed howitzer. It is rapidly deployed and operable in difficult terrain, having superior cross country abilities using self-mobility. The system has high survivability through a shootand- scoot capability. The system comprises of a modern platform with an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) and a driver station.

Read the full story at Army Recognition

News Story: South Korea Officially Selects F-35

By AARON MEHTA and WENDELL MINNICK

WASHINGTON AND TAIPEI — The Republic of Korea has officially selected the F-35 as its next-generation fighter, the government announced this morning.

The country has agreed to purchase 40 of the F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) design, with first delivery planned for 2018. South Korea becomes the third foreign military sales customer for the F-35, joining Israel and Japan. There are eight other international partners on the program.

The conventional variant appears to be popular among nations with a deeper strategic depth and a sophisticated air defense network.

“We are honored by and appreciate the trust and confidence the Republic of Korea has placed in the 5th generation F-35 to meet its demanding security requirements,” Orlando Carvalho, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics executive vice president, said in a company press release. “This decision strengthens and extends our long-standing security partnership while enhancing regional stability across the greater Asia Pacific theater.”

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Editorial: What Can We Learn From Kazakhstan’s Arms Deals?

By Stephen Blank

Recent transactions reflect some underlying trends in the global arms market.

Few analysts regularly track the minutiae of arms sales. Who sells what to whom and for what purpose often gets overlooked in regional security analyses. But given Asia’s dynamism, tracking those kinds of questions actually reveals quite a lot about regional security trends.

Take Kazakhstan’s recent arms deals. They tell us a great deal about the global arms market and its interaction with security dynamics in Asia in general and Central Asia and Kazakhstan in particular. Kazakhstan has recently contracted with South Africa to produce and maintain armored military vehicles for local and regional export markets. The two countries also collaborate in space research programs and Kazakhstan’s launch platform at Baikonur has launched South African (and many other countries’) space satellites.

In the meantime, Kazakhstan has signed an accord on security cooperation with Israel that provides a general “umbrella” for cultivating defense trade and future cooperation. This accord formalizes more than a decade of Israeli arms sales to Kazakhstan. Apparently Kazakhstan is especially interested in unmanned systems, border security, command control capabilities and satellite communications – in other words, the leading sectors of military technology. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Near East and Far East - Not So Distant

By Amitai Etzioni

The U.S. should not treat its Asia commitments as distinct from its role in the Middle East.

Many observations about the Near and Far East view them as if they were worlds apart. Thus, the U.S. pivot is typically understood to entail moving forces, funding and attention from one region to another. Some U.S. warships, we are told, are to be moved from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, and some Marines from Afghanistan to Australia. More generally, the pivot is reported as involving a withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and strenuously avoiding engaging in the Syrian civil war, while simultaneously forming new military alliances with Vietnam, seeking a return of U.S. forces to the former Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines, and clarifying that the United States-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security extends to the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. In short, curtailing U.S. commitments and involvement in the Near East and extending them in the Far East.

Actually, there is a profound link between the two theaters: namely whatever takes place in the Middle East greatly affects what takes place in Southeast and East Asia. The more the United States turns out to be a fickle, unreliable ally of its longstanding friends in the Middle East—especially Saudi Arabia and Israel—the more the leaders of South Korea and Japan will worry whether they can rely on the United States’ defense umbrella. Similarly, the more Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain must worry about the backing of the U.S.—the more Vietnam and the Philippines are likely to worry about being trampled as the elephant and tiger rumble. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Israel’s Asian Defense Presence

By Alvite Singh Ningthoujam

Two recent events highlight Israel’s potential role as an arms supplier to South and Southeast Asia.

Israel has once again enjoyed a very significant presence during the recently concluded Defexpo, held in New Delhi, and Singapore Airshow. Not only did it show off its state-of-the-art weapons systems; the diminutive state was able to clinch a few important deals with countries in the region. The participation of a considerable number of defense firms, both state-owned and private, itself is an indication of Israel’s desire to forge closer military-security cooperation with countries such as India, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Asia-Pacific is looking an increasingly attractive market for Israeli arms manufacturer, especially as other major countries cut defense spending. For instance, major players such as Israel Military Industries reportedly secured contracts with several Asian countries worth $500 million during 2013, mostly for upgrades of military platforms, sales of heavy munitions, and a variety of military systems. Several important joint-ventures are also underway. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: Alenia Aermacchi Sets Its Sights on Thai Trainer Contest

M-346 Master (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

By ANDREW CHUTER

SINGAPORE — Thailand is the next regional target for the M-346 jet trainer maker Alenia Aermacchi, according to Giovanni Timossi, the company's vice president of sales in Asia.

A request for proposals (RfPs) for eight to 10 jet trainers is expected to be released next month, he said. No other advanced trainer RfPs are in the pipeline for the region at the moment, said Timossi.

The South Korean T-50 provides the main opposition in the region, having already scored a deal in Indonesia and been selected in the Philippines.

Indonesia is also looking at reviving the BAE Systems Hawk jet trainer fleet it has had in the inventory for years.

The British had a team in the country earlier this year to look at what is required to restore the Hawk to former levels of availability, according to BAE executives. BAE said there is no prospect of an upgrade to the 32 Hawks remaining in the Indonesian fleet at this time.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Think Tank: Europe’s arms trade with China

By Stuart McMillan

The balance of military power in Asia is of critical interest to Australia and other regional states. China’s modernisation of its defence forces has led to a reorganisation of its command structure, which was announced late last year. Greater emphasis will now be given to air and defence forces rather than land based forces. This shift in emphasis will be helped by the sales of weaponry from other countries, particularly from the European Union.

In principle, the EU maintains an embargo on weapons sales to China but it’s getting a little frayed around the edges. The 16th EU–China summit meeting held in Beijing in late November last year made no change to the embargo. Nevertheless various media reports have given details about the sale of technology that has been incorporated into Chinese weapons systems.

The embargo was imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 (PDF). The EU took the view that it didn’t want any of its weapons to be used in suppressing dissent in China. That view remains an important reason for maintaining the embargo, but the possibility of EU arms being used for external aggression has been added to the criteria for maintaining it. Abandonment of the embargo might risk the interpretation that it was wrong to impose it in the first place after the Tiananmen Square violence.

Editorial: Slouching Toward Offshore Balancing

By James R. Holmes

With America facing fiscal constraints, are lawmakers absentmindedly adopting offshore balancing?

Is America slouching toward offshore balancing? Maybe so, if columnist Lee Smith has it right. Writing over at Tablet, Smith claims that Harvard professor Stephen Walt is this generation’s George F. Kennan, a foreign-policy intellectual whose appraisal of the geopolitical landscape, and of the proper methods for managing it, captures the attention and allegiance of top policymakers.

Smith refers mainly to Walt’s commentary on Israel. To oversimplify, Walt maintains that the “Israel lobby” wields outsized influence in Washington. Such influence, quoth he, deforms U.S. foreign policy in favor of a small, beleaguered ally that contributes little to the alliance while ensnaring the United States in disputes remote from its interests. To make decisions that truly suit the national interest, then, officialdom should afford Israel no more deference than any other small Middle Eastern country.

But this is about more than Israel. Walt extrapolates his logic to all American allies under his doctrine of “offshore balancing.” Taken to extremes, international relations’ “realism” is all about big powers. Small fry mainly just get in the way. Though he doesn’t couch it in such Clausewitzian terms, Walt proclaims in effect that the United States attaches too much value to its overseas alliances. By exaggerating the value of alliances, it takes on efforts of magnitude and duration far disproportionate to its interests. In other words, it invests too heavily, and for too long, in arrangements that provide dubious returns. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: India, Israel to Build Anti-Missile System

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — India and Israel will jointly build an integrated anti-missile system to be deployed against Chinese nuclear and conventional missiles.

The new program, which does not yet have a name, has been approved by the Indian Defence Ministry, with a contract expected to be signed in the next six months, according to a scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Defexpo.

The proposed missile defense program will see participation by Rafael and Israel Aircraft Industries in partnership with DRDO and state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Read the full story at DefenseNews