Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 1998, Pages 33, 126

Defense & Intelligence

Satellites Make News in Israel and the Gulf

By Shawn L. Twing

First Satellite Imagery Receiving Station Opens in Dubai

Customers in the Gulf and beyond will have near-instantaneous access to high-resolution satellite imagery of the Middle East beginning in April, following the January opening of a ground receiving station in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Jane’s International Defence Review reported in its January 1998 issue. The station, the first of its kind in the Arab world, will be run by Dubai Space Imaging, a joint venture between UAE investors and the U.S. Space Imaging EOSAT (Earth Orbiting Satellite) company based in Thornton, CO.

In January, DSI came on line with five-meter resolution imagery (which makes objects five meters in diameter or larger discernible) received from two Indian Remote Sensing satellites launched by the Indian Space Agency in December 1995 and September 1997. In late March or early April, DSI will switch to the IKONOS 1 satellite built by U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, with a second IKONOS satellite to follow later this year. IKONOS 1 and 2 both will utilize Kodak lenses ground to accuracies “measured in atoms,” according to Space Imaging. These new lenses will improve image quality dramatically, making one-meter resolution imagery available from satellite to ground receiving station within 20 minutes. This high-quality imagery, previously available only from military satellites, will cover a 2,300-kilometer radius centered in Dubai that includes Iran, Iraq, the Arab Gulf countries, the Levant, southwest Asia and parts of North Africa.

DSI’s presence in Dubai will bring a significant technological boost to the region in general, and the UAE in particular. Space Imaging’s director of marketing communications, Brian Webster, told the Washington Report that “It is our intent to make Dubai Space Imaging an indigenous UAE company,” which includes training and employing UAE nationals for every level of DSI’s operations. This training will give the UAE a role in a rapidly developing international enterprise that some industry analysts predict may generate millions of dollars annually in revenue worldwide.

In addition, DSI’s imagery will have a substantial impact on many environmental, public administration, and other civil decision-making areas in the Middle East. Despite its perceptual association with spying, an estimated 85 percent of commercial imagery is used for non-military purposes including cartography, land-use planning, crop management, environmental monitoring and many other non-military applications. DSI’s ability to deliver high-quality imagery in a variety of formats (including black and white, multi-spectral and near-infrared) quickly and effectively will place Dubai Space Imaging among the top international firms in the commercial remote- sensing business. That it was built in Dubai, in partnership between UAE investors and America’s pre-eminent commercial remote-sensing firm, attests to the rapidly developing technological sophistication of the countries of the Gulf.

Israel’s Launch of Ofeq-4 Satellite Fails

Israel’s secret launch of its Ofeq-4 surveillance satellite Jan. 22 failed because of unspecified technical problems, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported in February. According to Israel’s Channel 2 television network, the $80 million satellite “plunged into the sea” near Malta shortly after it exited the atmosphere on an Israeli-built Shavit launch rocket.

Ofeq-4 was supposed to replace the experimental Ofeq-3 satellite that was launched April 5, 1995 to spy on Syria, Iran and Iraq. Ofeq-3 will reach the end of its planned life span in the next 18 months, Jerusalem Channel 2 reported. Ofeq-5 already has been built, according to Israeli sources, but it is unclear if Israel has allocated funding for its launch.

The Ofeq (“Horizon”) series is part of Israel’s defense system against ballistic missiles that includes the Arrow and Patriot anti-tactical ballistic missiles. “The Ofeq-4 failure means there will be a significant gap in the satellite series that was designed to give Israel a surveillance capability independent of the USA,” Jane’s reported. Following an April 1996 meeting in Washington, DC between then Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, the United States pledged to open a satellite ground receiving station in Israel to give the Israelis real-time access to U.S. satellite imagery of the Middle East. That station reportedly was opened less than a year later.

On March 7, Iraq submitted an item on “Israeli space activity and its threat to pan-Arab security” to the agenda of the Arab League’s foreign ministers summit scheduled in Cairo March 24. The memo, cited by Cairo’s Middle East News Agency (MENA), “stresses that the orbiting of Arab space by Ofeq-3 sends a major warning to the entire Arab nation that its security is threatened by Israel’s nuclear, chemical, and biological [weapons].” Also included in the memo are highly accurate descriptions of Ofeq-3 and its capabilities, and an Iraqi request that the Arab Space Telecommunications Organization “provide the Arab League with regular reports” on Israeli space activities.

Israel Accuses UK of “Defense Discrimination”

In the midst of increasing European criticism of the Netanyahu government’s intransigence on the Arab-Israeli peace process, Israeli defense industry officials have accused the United Kingdom in particular and the European Union in general of discriminating against Israeli defense companies for unrelated political reasons, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported in February. The allegations followed a January bilateral defense conference held in London by the Israeli-British business council that failed to attract representatives from most major British defense contractors.

Dr. Orna Beri, the chief scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, told Israel’s Hebrew daily newspaper Ha’aretz that Israel was being discriminated against by the UK for “political reasons.” She added that Israel currently faces obstacles to defense cooperation in general with the 15-member European Union, which sees itself as a counterbalance to the dramatic American tilt in favor of Israel.

Attending the conference were representatives from Israel’s Elbit systems, Elisra Electronics Systems, Israel Aircraft Industries and Tadiran Spectralink among others. Britain’s GEC-Marconi was “the only major UK defense contractor to attend the conference,” according to Jane’s . The UK lifted a 12-year arms embargo against Israel in 1994 that was imposed after Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Saudi Firm Accused of Selling U.S. Military Training Manuals

Riyadh-based Zan Trading is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly selling training and technical manuals for the Abrams tank, Patriot missile, Bradley fighting vehicle and Humvee utility vehicle to France’s Giat Industries, the Los Angeles Times reported March 4.

Zan Trading translates military documents from English into Arabic for the U.S. Army. It was hired in 1990 by the Army to translate the text of technical and training manuals for a variety of U.S. defense products sold to Saudi Arabia under a government-to-government foreign military sales contract. According to the allegations, a representative of Giat approached Zan in 1995 or 1996 and asked about the availability of the manuals. A Zan official allegedly sold dozens of manuals to Giat following that approach.

It is unclear what impact if any the allegations would have if they prove true. “The arms documents are not classified and include no data on some highly sensitive features of this material, such as their armoring. Their release apparently would not threaten the security of U.S. forces if they fell into hands of potential enemies,” according to the Times report.

General Dynamics, manufacturer of the Abrams tank, contends that the manuals are protected by U.S. export law and could give Giat, manufacturer of the rival Leclerc tank, an edge in international sales. One such sale is Saudi Arabia’s planned purchase of up to 150 main battle tanks for an estimated $1 billion.

A representative of ZTI, Inc., an Arlington, VA-based affiliate of Zan Trading, told the Times that the “allegations were concocted by a rival to threaten Zan’s business.” “We have no reason to believe that there is any truth to the allegations,” Zan attorney Jon Lonsberg added.

Israel Asked to Stay out of S-300 Delivery to Cyprus

Russia and Cyprus have asked Israel not to aid Turkey in preventing the delivery to Cyprus of Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles purchased in January 1997 but not yet delivered, the trade weekly Defense News reported in March. Cypriot officials told Defense News that they are “worried that Israel is transferring intelligence information to Turkey on the movement of Russian ships that might be carrying the air defense missiles to the disputed Mediterranean island.”

Turkey fears that the highly sophisticated S-300s will deny its air force superiority over Cyprus and that the missiles’ long range, accuracy and lethality could even threaten Turkish aircraft operating in Turkish airspace. Turkish officials have warned repeatedly that they might launch a military strike to prevent the delivery or deployment of the S-300 system.

“We have always clarified to the Russians and Cypriots that our relationship with Turkey is not at their expense,” an Israeli official told Defense News , adding that “We don’t see the S-300 missiles as a threat to us and we have not intervened.”

Russia Will Sell More Nuclear Reactors to Iran

Before U.S. officials could celebrate Ukraine’s March 6 decision to suspend the sale of nuclear-related equipment to Iran, Russia announced that same day that it will expand assistance to Iran’s nuclear facilities in Bushehr.

Immediately following Ukrainian Foreign Minister Hennady Udovenko’s announcement that Ukraine would pull out of a $45 million deal to supply turbines for Iran’s Russian-built nuclear power plant, Russian officials announced that they had agreed to expand the Bushehr complex from two reactors to four. Russia currently has a $780 to $850 million contract to build a 1,000-megawatt light water reactor abandoned by a German company in 1979 following the Iranian revolution. Despite strong U.S. objections, Russia will accelerate the construction of the first reactor, build a second 1,000-megawatt reactor, and then two more smaller reactors, provided Iran submits to international inspection of its nuclear facilities.

The United States and Israel strongly oppose any international assistance to Iran’s nuclear facilities, arguing that the Islamic Republic is using them as a cover for nuclear-weapons procurement and research. Iran, for its part, has said that it will submit to international inspections as called for in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of which it, unlike Israel, is a member.

“What the Americans are trying to do is really surprising,” Georgy Kaurov, a spokes man for Russia’s Atomic Energy told The New York Times . “If America could submit evidence that Iran will not allow international inspections there could be grounds for discussion. But the fact is the United States just does not like Iran.”