headland

In "The Consequences of Perfidy," Headland reported on a Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily report that China and Pakistan had achieved performance levels on their fighter aircraft approaching those of the U.S. F-16A, thanks to the use of sensitive technologies transferred to China during the Clinton administration.

In today's Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily. Gregory R. Copley, an Editor of Global Information System, reports of a possible sale to Iran by China (PRC) of the new fighter aircraft built by China and Pakistan, the FC-1/JF-17 Thunder fighter. The fighter uses fly-by-wire systems that were transferred illegally to the PRC during the Clinton Administration.

Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily sees the sale as a likely consequence of a new accord between Iran and the PRC, formalized by the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Beijing on November 30, 2004. Under the agreement, the PRC will exchange expertise in the areas of satellites and aerospace technology.

The Bush administration responded to the memorandum of understanding by imposing additional sanctions on four organizations in the PRC and one in North Korea (DPRK). Though the Bush administration recognizes that the technology has already been lost to China and North Korea, it now sees the Iranian clerical Government as one of its most significant strategic concerns. The report claims that stolen technology, based upon a Global Positionining System, has already found its way into the guidance systems of Iranian Shabab 3D strategic ballistic missile systems that now target Israeli assets among others.

Labels: China, Defense and Foreign Affairs Daily, DPRK, FC-1/JF-17 Thunder fighter, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, PRC