Ukraine sold advance radar system to Saddam??

The following extract is from JANES deffence weakly.

“Ukraine: arms for Iraq?

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is being accused of playing a key role in the latest scandal to hit his country. Since the so-called ‘Kuchmagate’ affair broke in the winter of 2000, the president has been largely shunned by the West. His last official visit to western Europe was to Germany in January 2001: an excursion planned long before he became embroiled in the alleged murder of an opposition journalist, Georgii Gongadze.

However, this time the issue is far more serious: allegations of weapons sales to Iraq. If the charges are proved, Kuchma is unlikely to be welcome in the West for the remainder of his second term in office, which lasts until October 2004.

The source of the latest allegations is the same as sparked the initial scandal: 300 hours of tapes recorded illicitly in Kuchma’s office by former presidential security guard Mykola Melnychenko. Melnychenko fled Ukraine in November 2000 and sought asylum in the USA in April the following year.

The Melnychenko tapes purport to reveal a conversation on 10 July 2000 between Kuchma and Valeri Malev, head of the military export agency UkrSpetsExport. This allegedly took place four months prior to the revelation in the Ukrainian parliament of the existence of the tapes. The recordings appear to reveal a scheme to sell sophisticated weaponry to Iraq.

Kuchma’s meeting with Malev followed Ukraine’s participation in the SOFEX-2000 arms exhibition held in Amman, Jordan on 17-19 April 2000. Malev headed the Ukrainian delegation which exhibited the T-80UD tank; an upgraded T-72 tank; a BTR-94 APC; an 1L220-V fire-control radar (Zoopark) and – most importantly – the Kolchuga radar system.

After the great interest shown in the Kolchuga system by Middle Eastern clients it was upgraded. It now has the capability to evaluate land and air targets at 600-800km. What concerns the US and its allies – and the reason why Saddam Hussein was so keen to obtain it – is Kolchuga’s ability to detect US Stealth aircraft.

Melnychenko testified before a Federal Grand jury in San Francisco in mid-April that the material on the tapes is genuine. FBI experts have also confirmed the authenticity of this portion of the Melnychenko tapes. Although the US investigations continue, a US Defense Intelligence Agency spokesman told the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity that “Iraq has them” (i.e. the Kolchuga system). Two months after the radar was allegedly delivered, a USAF plane was downed over Iraq.

The accusation that Ukraine illegally exported sophisticated weapon systems to Iraq in breach of a UN embargo is being taken far more seriously by the US administration than the allegations concerning the murder of Gongadze. If the case is proved, Ukraine would itself become a pariah state, which in turn, would lead to international pressure for Kuchma to step down well before his presidential term ends in 2004. “

Is there any other sources to support their claim,,, if what they say about evidence given to the Grand jury is true.. then perhaps there is more here than just a rumour. Sedcondly I was not aware of any aircraft being downed over Irak.

Finally i dont think the Kolchuga system will be much usefull to Iraq without substancial impovement in SAM cappability as well as intergration of all the systems and centralisation of Command and Control. Perhaps the reports thar iraq was instaling fire optic cabling suggest they were doing just that.

Or could it be that all this is a crock made by pentagon/whitehouse to speed up action against Saddam?