Israel's role in China's new warplane
By David Isenberg
The recent unveiling (sort of) of China's first domestically designed (sort
of) fighter jet was the culmination of a long saga of international
military-hardware wheeling and dealing that has seen US-designed or -funded
high-tech weaponry fall into the hands of potential military rivals.
The showpiece of many years' work, dating back to the late 1980s, recently
happened - albeit unobserved - when China confirmed the existence of, but
did not unveil, the Jian-10 fighter jet. It had been reported that the J-10
(F-10 being the export version, using North Atlantic Treaty Organization
designation) would be shown in public for the first time during the fourth
China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China 2002)
held in Zhuhai in southern Guangdong province from November 4-10, but the
plane did not appear.
The J-10 is a multi-role single-engine and single-seat tactical fighter,
with a combat radius of 1,000 kilometers. Although billed as a domestically
produced fighter, in truth the J-10 could not have happened without the
help of other countries, especially Israel.
The program began in the late 1980s and is thought to be based on an
Israeli design. It contains Israeli and Russian avionics, and is powered by
Russian engines.
Chinese engineers developed the J-10 from a single F-16 provided by
Pakistan, and with assistance from Israeli engineers associated with
Israel's US-financed Lavi fighter program, which was canceled in 1987,
according to the Federation of American Scientists website. The Lavi was
based on the US F-16 and built with US$1.3 billion in aid from Washington.
In 1983, when US support for the Lavi commenced, the program was opposed
vigorously by the Defense Department, partly because of re-export concerns.
An early supporter of the Lavi was George Shultz, then secretary of state
in the administration of US president Ronald Reagan. Shultz would later
label his advocacy of the program a "costly mistake".
Only in early 1995 did the US government make public its concerns about
Israel's Lavi-related technology re-exports to China. David Lari, director
general of Israel's Ministry of Defense, acknowledged in an Associated
Press interview that "some technology on aircraft" had been sold to China
and that some Israeli companies may not have "clean hands".
Yet China's acquisition of the Russian Su-27, after China had attempted for
years to develop the J-10 aircraft with equivalent technology to perform
similar functions, is seen by some experts as a sign that China lacks
confidence in its domestic industrial capabilities.
Though it has never been certain precisely what specific technologies and
systems Israel provided, it was reported that the Jian-10's radar and
fire-control system is the Israeli-made ELM-2021 system, which can
simultaneously track six air targets and lock on to the four most
threatening targets for destruction.
In December 1991, US intelligence officials announced that Israel planned
to open a government-coordinated and -sponsored "arms office" in China.
Given what the Israelis had to offer, and what the Chinese needed, it was
most likely that a transfer of avionics and other technologies developed in
the Lavi program would ensue, since there was a void in the Chinese
avionics and fire-control system capability due to the 1989 termination of
a US-Chinese program in response to Tiananmen Square.
China and Israel started collaboration in the early 1980s and full-scale
cooperation was under way officially by 1984. As neither China nor Israel
was capable of developing the propulsion system required by the J-10, in
1991 China acquired the AI31F turbofan engine from Russia for incorporation
into the J-10 fighter. This engine is also used in the Su-27
air-superiority fighter that Chinese acquired from Russia. As the
performance of the AL31F engine is significantly better than that of the
American PW1120 originally slated for the Lavi, it may be anticipated that
the performance of the J-10 will be accordingly enhanced. Built by the
Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Corp, the J-10 attempts to rival current
fourth-generation Western fighters. China has inked a 10-year deal with the
Russian engine maker SRPC Salut for 300 Al-31F engines for its J-10 program
and will begin production of the jets next year.
The plane is said to have capabilities similar to the Su-27, the Russian
MiG-29 and the US F-16 fighter jets, but with an estimated cost of less
than $10 million, it could rival other jet makers on the international market.
In March 1997, despite official denials from Israeli officials, the US
Office of Naval Intelligence in its unclassified "Worldwide Challenges to
Naval Strike Warfare" restated more strongly than it had the previous year
its belief that US-derived technology from the canceled Israeli Lavi
fighter was being used on China's new F-10 fighter. It said, "The design
has been undertaken with substantial direct external assistance, primarily
from Israel and Russia, with indirect assistance through access to US
technologies." In fact, according to the annual intelligence report, "the
F-10 is a single-seat, light multi-role fighter based heavily on the
canceled Israeli Lavi program".
Until it was canceled in 1987, much of Lavi technological development was
paid for by the United States. Ironically, the potential capability of F-10
fighters was cited by both the US Navy and Air Force as one of the future
threats justifying the expenditure of billions on new tactical aircraft,
such as the F-22, F/A-18F, and Joint Strike Fighter. The fact that possibly
US-derived technology provided by an ally might be contributing to that
potential threat is a delicate subject.
However, this is not the first time accusations of illegal technology have
been made. A March 1992 report by State Department inspector general
Sherman Funk, "Report of Audit: Department of State Defense Trade
Controls", states that alleged Israeli violations of US laws and
regulations "cited and supported by reliable intelligence information show
a systematic and growing pattern of unauthorized transfers ... dating back
to about 1983".
The 1992 Funk report was the first time the US government had publicly
released evidence that Israel was improperly re-exporting US-origin weapons
technology. Israel and some of its US supporters quickly denounced it. So
that their work would not be classified - and thus off-limits to the public
- the writers of the report referred to Israel only as a "major recipient"
of US technology, and misdeeds were not specified in detail. The classified
version, of course, did name Israel as well as other states, and it cited
instances of unauthorized retransfers, US officials said in interviews.
The Funk report criticized State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for
ignoring scores of intelligence reports of apparent violations of Arms
Export Control Act (AECA) and International Traffic in Arms regulations
retransfer restrictions and for not reporting them to senior officials and
Congress, as required by law. Israel denounced the report, especially as
its release followed allegations of improper transfer by Israel of Patriot
missile technology to China.
In the summer of 2000, the Washington Times reported that a memo
circulating inside the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency told
analysts they no longer had to gain input from the Defense Intelligence
Agency before deciding whether controlled technology should be transferred
to Israel. The DIA had compiled evidence that Israel had violated US export
regulations by transferring missile, laser and aircraft technology to China.
Subsequently, when Israel tried to sell the Phalcon to India, the US
government demanded that Israel limit arms exports. Israel was told that it
must inform the US of all weapons transfers to 27 nations regarded as
"countries of concern" such as China, India and Yugoslavia.
"Israel ranks second only to Russia as a weapons-system provider to China
and as a conduit for sophisticated military technology, followed by France
and Germany," stated a report this year by the US-China Security Review
Commission, a panel established by Congress to examine security and
economic relations between the two countries. "Recent upgrades in target
acquisition and fire control, probably provided by Israeli weapons
specialists, have enhanced the capabilities of the older guided missile
destroyers and frigates" in the Chinese navy's inventory, it said.
The commission cited Israel as a supplier to Beijing of radar systems,
optical and telecommunications equipment, drones and flight simulators.
Arms exports have not only played a crucial role in offsetting Israel's
trade imbalance but have also performed a key role in furthering its
diplomatic efforts. The sale of arms and technology has become one of the
most effective techniques to furthering Israeli goals overseas. The quiet
ties with China and India and the growing alliance with Turkey in the 1980s
and the 1990s are good examples of strong links based on such cooperation.
The J-10 is hardly the only result of Israeli-Chinese military cooperation.
For example, the Chinese F-8, the same type of plane that collided with the
US reconnaissance plane last year, is armed with Israeli Python-3 missiles.
The Python, adapted from the US ALM-9L Sidewinder missile, has a high
degree of US technology. Ironically for Israel, China apparently sold its
version of Python-3, called the PL-8, to Iraq.
And, as was widely publicized, Israel was set to sell China the Phalcon, an
airborne early-warning radar system, until it was forced by the United
States to cancel the deal. The US Central Intelligence Agency also believed
Israel was marketing its STAR cruise missile in China. The STAR
incorporates sensitive US technology.
And former US officials report that both Israel and the Dutch company Delft
made unauthorized sales of US thermal-imaging tank sights to, among others,
China. The sights were installed on China's 69 MOD-2 tanks, some of which
were sold to Iraq. The United States acquired physical evidence of this
transfer after these tanks were used against US marines in the 1991 Gulf War.
atimes.com/atimes/China/DL04Ad01.html
Now Nortel,SUN and so on working on the Golden Shield,they have clean
hands,right?
Oh,and Dick Armey is a fearless warrior for human and civil rights?