NEW DELHI, Oct 10: India and Israel signed their biggest weapons deal ever on Friday, with New Delhi agreeing to buy strategic airborne radar systems which it hopes will boost its military edge over nuclear rival Pakistan.

The Israeli-made Phalcon radars will be mounted on Russian IL-76 aircraft in a deal estimated to be more than $1 billion.

“A tripartite agreement was signed this morning at the defence ministry involving Israeli and Russian representatives for the acquisition of AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) and mounting of these,” an spokesman of Indian defence ministry said.

Pakistan has repeatedly expressed concern at growing India-Israel defence ties and said the introduction of advanced systems such as the AWACS would lead to an arms race between the nuclear powers which came close to war last year over Kashmir.

“It gives you a great reach, Pakistan will certainly feel threatened,” said air commodore A.G. Katre of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, a New Delhi-based think-tank.

An Israeli defence ministry spokeswoman said the three-way agreement had laid the ground for the sale of the Phalcon systems to India. But no details about the value of the deal were given.

An Indian defence source said Russia would procure an old IL-76 from Uzbekistan and re-engineer it before sending it to Israel where the Phalcon radars would be mounted.

New Delhi plans to buy three Phalcon systems which officials and experts say will put large parts of Pakistan under its surveillance, including the volatile border in disputed Kashmir.

“You are looking into their territory, you can monitor what kind of flying they are doing,” Katre said, adding that Islamabad was now likely to look for matching systems.

The Phalcon can pick up aircraft, including at low altitude, hundreds of kilometres away in any weather, day or night. It can also intercept and decode radio transmissions, anticipating in many cases the weaponry an enemy might deploy.

India also wants to buy anti-ballistic Arrow missiles from Israel but this has yet to be cleared by the United States which funded the research and development.—Reuters