U.S. to provide Egypt with missiles, boats

Reuters ^ | 27 NOV 2001 06:02 | Reuters

[CommiesOut]

U.S. to provide Egypt with missiles, boats - report

    WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The Bush administration 
plans to provide Egypt with surface-to-surface missiles and 
four patrol boats on which to base them in a $400 million deal 
that has alarmed some of Israel's supporters in the U.S. 
Congress, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. 
    Citing a classified memo sent to Congress on Nov. 2, the 
Post said the administration had notified lawmakers of its 
intent to provide Egypt with 53 Harpoon Block II missiles, 
satellite-guided weapons made by Boeing Co . 
    The missiles, reportedly accurate to within 30 feet (9 
metres), would be mounted on four "fast missile patrol craft" 
built by Halter Marine Inc. of Gulfport, Mississippi, the Post 
said. 
    Although the United States gives Egypt $1.3 billion in 
military aid annually, a legacy of the 1978 Camp David peace 
accords, the Harpoon deal is proving more troublesome than 
most, the Post said. 
    Some lawmakers are reluctant to provide Egypt with 
sophisticated new technology they say could blunt Israel's 
"qualitative" military edge over neighboring countries, the 
newspaper said. 
    Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, chairman of the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State 
Colin Powell asking him to provide a rationale for the sale 
while North Carolina Republican Sen. Jesse Helms and California 
Rep. Tom Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the House 
International Relations Committee, have expressed concern, the 
Post said. 
    "A stable and prosperous Egypt is in our interest, while an 
arms race between Israel and Egypt is not in our interest," 
Lantos told the newspaper. 
    "The State Department is sort of following a pattern of 
escalating the level of arms sales to Egypt, which in turn will 
mean escalating the number of arms sales and the sophistication 
to Israel." 
    The State Department, White House and Pentagon declined 
comment on the plan, the Post said. 
    A U.S. government official said the Harpoon missiles would 
help Egypt to protect the Suez Canal, an important passage for 
U.S. commercial and military ships, the newspaper said. 
  ((Washington newsroom, 202 898 8300, fax 202 898 8383, 
washington.bureau.newsroom@reuters.com)) 

27 NOV 2001 06:02:29

[CommiesOut]

Perpetuum mobile bump.

[Ymani Cricket]

The communists always said we (western capitalists) would sell them the rope that they would hang us with... well it may not be the communists but we'll get "hanged" one of these days if we don't have more discretion. I suppose someone would say that we are encouraging (bribing) the Egyptians to become more "western" with our goods and products. (As if the Egyptian version of Semsame Street is going to change the Arab World?)

And I suppose the same pro-China crowd would say that by giving good trade deals to the Chinese Communists we are helping to bring them closer to our ideals. Yeah, right.

[babygene]

Since these missiles are guided by GPS, since we own the satalites, we can selectivly shut down the system and make them useless.

[Ymani Cricket]

A U.S. government official said the Harpoon missiles would help Egypt to protect the Suez Canal

Protect it from Whom?

[Ymani Cricket]

I don't think it's that simple. Maybe you could elaborate. How would you know to do this until after launch? What happens when JDAM doesn't recieve signal? GPS jamming may work to a degree but what happens when GPS is jammed and INS takes over? INS will navigate the weapon all the way to impact regardless of weather. Also how would you have time to jam with several multiple launches. Don't you think they would use these with their OWN satellites? (yes Egypt has Satellites) I doubt that they would allow us to have (to their knowledge) GPS control/capability to shut down GPS data and either jam or somehow prevent a launch. Any nation could jam not just the U.S.

[Ymani Cricket]

And if we sell them these "for their patrol boats" or whatever, who is to keep them from selecting some to use for launch from aircraft? They could strip the tails off the bombs and use them on a very, shall we say, "different warhead" as well. I'm sure the Chinese would show them how if they don't know already.

Well, they are going to sell them anyway so there's no sense in arguing about it I suppose.

[Free the USA]

Morning bump

[Patria One]

Bump

[ChaseR]

bttt