09 February 2004	Monday	17 Zilhaj 1424

AL QUDS, Feb 8: Israel is likely to sign a $1.1 billion deal to send three Phalcon early warning radar systems to India within a month, an Israeli defence industry executive said on Sunday.

The two countries struck a preliminary deal in October and made further progress last week when Moshe Keret, head of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), was in India.

"We are expecting to sign in a very short period of time a deal with three Phalcons going to India worth $1.1 billion," the executive said. "I assume it will be within a month," he said, noting that only minor issues were holding up the completion.

IAI, the maker of the Phalcon systems, would deliver the first system in 18 to 24 months. The Israeli defence executive said the United States had given Israel the green light to sell the Phalcons - to be mounted on Russian aircraft - to India. The Phalcon can pick up aircraft, including at low altitude, hundreds of kilometres away in any weather, day or night. -Reuters