Britain is Providing Jordan with Tigercat Missiles, Dayan Tells Knesset

Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told the Knesset (Parliament) yesterday that Britain was providing Jordan with a considerable quantity of Tigercat ground-to-air missiles. But he did not specify how many of the rockets were involved in the transaction. Gen. Dayan also told Israeli legislators that Soviet experts and advisers were guiding the Egyptian Army in training, development and operational planning.

Replying to questions, he said Israel had no knowledge of alleged cooperation between the Cuban Army and Arab saboteurs. It was reported recently by an Israeli newspaper that the saboteurs were being trained in Cuba. Gen. Dayan also said that Havana denied news reports that the Cuban chief of staff was present with Arab guerrillas during a raid into Israel and that it is in any way connected with terrorists.

The Defense Minister also said that he had told British Conservative Party leader Edward Heath recently that it was impossible to free vessels stranded in the Suez Canal since the 1967 war so long as the Egyptians continued to violate the cease-fire.

The Tigercat missile maker, Short Brothers and Harland, a partially state-owned aircraft manufacturer in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said last January when the deal became known that the rockets could be operational by the time Israel gets American Phantom jets. The Tigercat, a land version of the British Navy’s Seacat, is a small and highly maneuverable rocket that can be operated from mobile trailers, has a range of about 20,000 feet and is largely geared for airfield protection.

The reported $14.4 million deal was said to have been concluded just prior to the Dec. 28 Israel raid on Beirut airport. The Tigercat is said to have a guidance system which works with considerable precision. Jordan was reported to have sought the missiles to guard airfields against the kind of lightning raid launched by Israel at the start of the 1967 war.

When the sale was given publicity last year, Emanuel Shinwell, the veteran British Labor Party leader, called the decision “incredible.” He added that the British Government “has gone mad stark staring mad.” Britain has been a strong advocate of a Mideast arms embargo but the unwillingness of the Soviet Union and United States to stop arms supplies has prompted her to keep her options open. The current policy is to determine each case on its merits.

It was reported last month that the United States had agreed to a $30.million arms deal with Jordan, including the sale of a second squadron of 18 F-104 Star fighter jet interceptors. The first squadron is scheduled for delivery starting in June. Movement of the second squadron may not begin for many months.