Saudis push out air umbrella

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 6

Saudis push out air umbrella

NZPA-NYT Washington Saudi Arabia had told the United States and friendly nations in the Gulf that it would move to intercept threatening aircraft in Gulf waters beyond Saudi territorial limits, Reagan Administration officials said yesterday. This interception range, or “air defence interception zone,” is known as the “Fahd Line” after King Fahd, and extends beyond the commercial traffic control zone and the 12-mile territorial waters. Officials declined yesterday to specify where this line had been drawn, but said that it was far enough into the Gulf for Saudi aircraft to protect shipping. One official said that the Saudis had conveyed these new rules of engagement to Washington two weeks ago when they shot down an Iranian aircraft flying over Gulf waters. Another said that the Saudis had notified Washington “some time after June 5” but before the recent lull in military air activity over the Gulf.

The officials attributed the lull in Iranian attacks against Gulf shipping at least in part to Teheran’s awareness of the new Saudi willingness to engage. In a related development the State Department announced yesterday that Saudi Arabia, with American approval and help, had been sharing with Kuwait information derived from American-flown Awacs radar aircraft.

In conjunction with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, “we are looking at ways we can improve the air defence capability of Kuwait, including ways to upgrade the efficiency of Awacs datasharing between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and formalise the current ad hoc arrangement,” the department said. The Reagan Administration has told Kuwait that its request for new portable Stinger anti-aircraft missiles had been denied because of congressional opposition. One key official said that the arrangement for sharing data from the Awacs aircraft “was compensation for the Stinger turn-down.” Administration officials said that Saudi aircraft were now under orders to scramble as unauthorised planes entered this area, “to take a look” and see if shipping was being threatened. If so, they were authorised to defend certain ships, which officials de-

dined to specify. As the intruding planes moved into the second zone, known as the flight information region for commercial flights, the Saudi aircraft had orders to challenge. For aircraft invading Saudi airspace, the officials, said, the Saudis had issued standing orders to their pilots to “shoot on sight.” The State Department’s announcement yesterday about the Saudis’ sharing Awacs-derived information with Kuwait said that the action was being taken “on an intermittent basis” and had been “limited to occasions when there is a clear and immediate threat of possible penetration of Kuwaiti airspace.”

Officials have said that Kuwait has been advised to improve its existing antiaircraft missile system, the American-made Improved Hawk, and it had been suggested that American technical help might be given in that task. Kuwaiti officials also had been told to ask for new fixed anti-aircraft guns and missiles rather than Stingers. Because of their ready portability there was continuing concern that the Stingers could fall into the hands of terrorists and be used against civilian aircraft and Israel. This Administration response did not go far enough for some officials. They said that the Administration had been trying determinedly in recent months to bring Kuwait closer to the West, despite its anti-Israeli attitude. As these officials saw it, the efforts were beginning to work as the Iran-Iraq war heated up in recent months. In denying the Stingers, one official said, “We failed the first test they put to us.”

Other Administration officials said that American servicemen and contract personnel had been working with the Saudis and Kuwaitis in the last two weeks to set up the technical end of the Awacs information-sharing. They said that it was a complicated process that neither of the Gulf nations could handle alone. American-owned and flown Awacs planes, with Saudi navigators, have been flying out of Saudi Arabia for several years to train Saudi personnel, and to provide direction for Saudi Eagle fighters, as the Saudis await the delivery of their own Awacs planes beginning next year.