WASHINGTON, Aug 11: The United States on Monday confirmed it had given the okay for Israel to sell Phalcon early-warning aircraft worth one billion dollars to India, nearly three months after the approval was reported in the Israeli press.

“The United States has informed the governments of Israel and India that we have no objection to the Israeli transfer of the Phalcon airborne early-warning system to India,” deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

He said Washington had taken the step, reported on May 22 by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, because the improving security situation between India and Pakistan had made the sale less likely to destabilize the region.

“We’ve been discussing this potential sale with Israel for several years, and in the past we have expressed concern that heightened tensions between India and Pakistan made the transfer inadvisable,” Mr Reeker said.

The Phalcon is an Israeli-developed long-range radar warning and control system carried in a Russian Ilyushin-76 cargo plane. Israel coordinates its military sales with Washington because the two nations’ defense industries are closely linked and often share technological advances.—AFP