U.S. Outlines Arms Sales to Mideast

The Reagan Administration has notified Congress it plans to sell jet fighter planes to Israel, Pakistan and Bahrain and to equip Egypt’s six Soviet-built submarines with U.S. torpedoes and radar.

Egypt also would purchase an unspecified number of M-60 tanks, while Pakistan would buy P-3 Orion aircraft to hunt submarines, as well as either AWACS (airborne warning and command systems) or Hawkeye radar planes.

The classified report covering projected arms sales for 1988 was sent Feb. 25 to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It was made available today to the Associated Press.

30 Days for Denial

Some items may be deleted and others added. After Congress is notified officially of a projected sale it has 30 days to block it by majority votes of both the House and Senate.

The 75 F-16 jet fighters ticketed for Israel are intended to compensate for the Lavi, the warplane Israel was building with U.S. financial support. Under U.S. pressure, the project was canceled last August after $1.3 billion had been spent on it.

Pakistan, another close U.S. ally, would purchase an unspecified number of F-16s, and Bahrain, a small oil state in the Persian Gulf, would obtain four of the jet fighters, plus helicopters.

Armor for Saudis

Saudi Arabia is due to get equipment for its U.S.-built AWACS radar planes and also $500-million worth of Bradley armored personnel carriers. About 400 Bradleys could be purchased for that amount.

Egypt, which has the largest fleet of submarines in the Arab world, will be able to modernize the six supplied by the Soviet Union. Two others were sold to Egypt by China.

The Reagan Administration also informed the congressional committees it would build a $2-billion factory in Egypt to provide M-1 tanks for the Egyptian armed forces and separately sell Egypt $60 million worth of M-60 tanks and Hawkeye radar planes.

No U.S. weapons sales are planned for Jordan, which the Administration is trying to persuade to negotiate peace terms with Israel. Congress has banned new arms for the Arab kingdom until it agrees to work on a Middle East settlement.