US thwarts Israeli arms deal to India

The United States has thwarted an arms deal between Israel and India in the final moments before its completion, Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported on Friday.

India was scheduled to purchase Israeli-made Spike missiles worth millions of USD from Rafael Advanced Defence Systems in a deal that was announced to the media last week, but according to the newspaper, US Secretary of State John Kerry thwarted the deal at the last minute by convincing India to purchase US-made FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles instead.

The newspaper pointed out that Israel had already sent a missile sample to India for trial, but Kerry foiled the deal and convinced India to purchase the Javelin missiles in exchange for becoming involved in the development of the next generation of anti-tank missiles.

Maariv added that the intervention comes as the US administration attempts to keep its heavy industries running in the wake of the downsizing of the US military budget.