Israel, USA claim Egyptian missile links with N Korea

Friday April 04, 2003 11:44

by kokomero

Will this accusation be used as a pretext to attack Egypt next?

While these accusations are not new, their significance is increased given the Al Samoud missiles were one of the pretexts the US/K used for going to war on Iraq. It will be interesting to see if they are trundled out as a pretext for action against Egypt once the war in Iraq is over? How involved is Israel in developing US military strategy and targeting? US and Israeli intelligence sources allege that Western and US technology obtained by Egyptian government-owned companies is being sent to Pyongyang and is adapted and returned as advanced missile components for Egypt's medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) programme. The same Israeli sources claim that Egypt has 'Scud C' missiles with a range of 500km. The missiles Cairo is now developing, the sources said, are believed to nearly double that range. Israeli and US officials differ over the extent of Egypt's missile programme and its threat to the

Posted: 23 February 2000
Source: Jane's Defence Weekly
Also Online: Jane's Defence Weekly

Israel, USA claim Egyptian missile links with N Korea

Some sources in Israel and in the USA are concerned about what they believe is the Egyptian transfer of US missile technology to North Korea.

US and Israeli intelligence sources allege that Western and US technology obtained by Egyptian government-owned companies is being sent to Pyongyang and is adapted and returned as advanced missile components for Egypt's medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) programme.

The same Israeli sources claim that Egypt has 'Scud C' missiles with a range of 500km. The missiles Cairo is now developing, the sources said, are believed to nearly double that range.

If Cairo is, with North Korean help, developing an MRBM with chemical and biological warheads, this would threaten Israel.

Israeli and US officials differ over the extent of Egypt's missile programme and its threat to the region. A senior Israeli defence source told Jane's Defence Weekly that the differences stem from Washington's appraisal of Egypt as its leading Arab ally in the Middle East.

"They don't see Egypt the same way we do. It seems that the US does not want to do anything that will jeopardise its alliance with Egypt," he said. "The project is so important to Egypt that it is prepared to confront the United States on the issue," a US intelligence source said. "They are taking risks."

Three Egyptian companies were sanctioned on 23 March 1999 by the US State Department for transferring dual-use US technology and missile components to Pyongyang.

"This is quietly becoming a major concern," a former US defence official involved in the issue said.

The Clinton administration denied Arab-British Dynamics, Helwan Machinery and Equipment Co and the Kader Factory for Developed Industries the right to export licences for items listed in the 1987 Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), as well as US government contracts for MTCR items.

Egypt refuses to abide by the agreement, which bans the export of missiles with a range of more than 300km and a 500kg warhead. "The companies were found to have sent dual-use items banned by the MTCR to North Korea," a State Department official told JDW.

A senior congressional analyst said that the Clinton administration has been urged by several members of Congress to impose sanctions on Egypt which receives more than $1.3 billion a year in US military aid. He told JDW that co-operation between Egypt and North Korea, which began in the late 1970s, has increased over the past two years.

"We are watching Egyptian companies make all sorts of requests for technology and components and subsystems for its missile programme and transferring them to North Korea," the analyst said.

"We are pressing for more to be done but nobody is willing to come out and say this publicly at this time. In 1981, Egypt provided North Korea with a small number of Soviet 'Scud B' missiles, which Pyongyang reverse-engineered to gain knowledge needed for a self-sufficient missile programme," said a November 1999 report by the North Korea Advisory Group, comprised of nine senior members of Congress.

"Egypt has co-operated with North Korea in missile development and is reportedly able to produce a version of the 'Scud B' missile." The analyst said the US intelligence community is concerned that technology sent by Egypt has been employed in the North Korean Taepo Dong long-range missile programme.

US officials said Pyongyang hopes to export the Taepo Dong 1 medium-range ballistic missile to Iran and eventually other Middle East countries while developing the Taepo Dong 2 missile, with a range of up to 5,500km.

Israeli and US intelligence sources told JDW that Egypt is also believed to have sent technology acquired during the Condor missile programme that was ended by Egypt under US pressure in the late 1980s.

The Condor project was led by Argentina and included Iraqi co-operation. The Condor had an estimated range of between 800km and 1,000km. US sources said Egypt continued developing the Condor II, or the Vector missile, as well as an improved version of the 'Scud C'.

The sources also allege that Egypt has gained access to the No Dong missile and perhaps the Taepo Dong. "I ended up working to help stop the Condor II programme being worked on by Argentina, Iraq and Egypt," Robert Walpole, the CIA national intelligence officer for strategic and nuclear programmes told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 16 September.

"Had it come to fruition, it would have made the No Dong and the Taepo Dong I look like toys. It would have been a much better system."

US officials said US Secretary of Defense William Cohen raised the issue of Egyptian-North Korean co-operation during talks in Cairo in mid-1999.

Egyptian Defence Minister Hussein Tantawi said Egypt would not agree to the MTCR as long as Israel refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and divest itself of its purported nuclear and other strategic weapons.

Israel has asked the USA for the Tomahawk cruise missile as part of any US military compensation for withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Israeli sources said the USA has refused to approve the request, citing restrictions by the MTCR.