Emirates, Bahrain to Buy 28 U.S. Copters : Defense: The sale of Apache attack aircraft opens a major drive by Washington to arm its allies in the Persian Gulf.

In the first steps of a major new drive to arm allies in the Persian Gulf, the Bush Administration plans to sell Apache attack helicopters to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in the coming weeks, defense officials said.

The Emirates, which allowed the basing of American C-130s during the Persian Gulf War, is expected to buy 20 of the choppers that proved so lethal during Operation Desert Storm, the officials said. The Administration also has informally notified lawmakers that it will sell eight of the attack helicopters to Bahrain, they added.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney defended the proposed sale en route to Washington from Cairo, where he ended a 10-day trip during which he discussed the Administration’s arms policies with allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Israel and Egypt.

After Cheney last Thursday announced U.S. plans to send additional F-15 fighter jets to Israel, the Administration was widely criticized for conducting “business as usual” even as it exhorted Mideast nations to limit their weaponry.

Throughout the Arab world, the arms transfer to Israel also was seen as evidence that President Bush’s recent arms-control initiative is skewed in favor of Israel’s interests. Cheney’s discussion of the proposed sale to Arab nations may be designed to blunt such criticism.

“The President’s arms-control initiative did not call for an absolute, total ban on all weapons going to the Middle East,” Cheney said Tuesday. “It specifically makes provision for continuing to satisfy their own security.”

Cheney insisted that it “is not inconsistent to say on the one hand we’re interested in arms control, on the other hand we want to make certain our friends can defend themselves.”

The proposed sale comes three years after staunch supporters of Israel on Capitol Hill forced the White House to scrap plans for a major weapons sale to the Emirates. Since then, according to one knowledgeable Defense Department official, the Bush Administration has maintained an informal moratorium on arms sales to the seven-emirate federation.

Bahrain, too, has run into political problems when trying to buy weapons. The Gulf island sheikdom, which allowed allied warplanes to operate from its airstrips during the war, has asked Washington in the past to sell it F/A-18 fighter jets. But the Administration, wary of unleashing major congressional opposition to such a sale, has not approved any such sale.

A senior Pentagon official traveling with Cheney said both the Emirates’ and Bahrain’s assistance to U.S. forces during the war have helped soften longstanding opposition to such sales. In informal consultations that the Administration conducted with interested lawmakers, there was “no problem” and “absolutely” no sign of significant opposition, the official added.

“They understand the U.A.E. is not a threat or a potential threat to Israel,” the official said of the lawmakers.

The sale of Apaches to Bahrain and the Emirates would mark the introduction of such high-technology weapons into the arsenals of any Persian Gulf country. Egypt and Israel have been granted Apaches in recent years. Saudi Arabia also is interested in buying the weapons, officials said.

The Emirates’ Apache helicopters will be equipped with Hellfire anti-tank missiles. Officials noted that the choppers could be used against such threats as speedboats attacking the Emirates’ oil and naval facilities in the Gulf, as Iranian attack craft did during the Iran-Iraq War.

The Emirates is now negotiating plans with Washington to establish in its capital, Dubai, a small regional headquarters for the U.S. Central Command, which would oversee any U.S. military operations in the Mideast.

Cheney’s comments followed proposals by several influential lawmakers for a temporary ban on U.S. arms sales to the Middle East, pending the start of negotiations on international arms sale restraints.

On Tuesday, Cheney declared that the proposal “is not a good one” and called for “a more sophisticated approach.”

“If the U.S. were suddenly to impose a moratorium, especially if we did it unilaterally, and others continued to supply to the region, the regimes that would receive armaments would be those who have been aggressive and the most threatening in the area,” Cheney said.

The defense secretary likened the proposed moratorium, versions of which are moving through both the House and the Senate, to “the old nuclear-freeze arguments of a few years ago. It does not necessarily result in greater security and stability.”

AH-64A Apache Helicopter

The AH-64A Apache helicopter, an attack copter, carries laser-guided anti-tank missiles and night vision sights. It is designed to lurk behind trees and ridges, to pick off targets three miles away. Although it is designed chiefly to attack tanks and other armored equipment, it could be used to protect Gulf oil rigs owned by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

* Crew: Pilot and co-pilot / weapons operator

* Maximum range: 300 miles; 1,175 miles with external fuel tanks.

* Maximum cruising speed: 184 m.p.h.

* Armaments: 30-mm gun; fires 625 rounds per minute, carries up to 1,200 rounds; 8 laser-guided Hellfire missiles; 36 aerial rockets, 18 per launcher.

* Tracking and night vision systems: Camera target detection and tracking system, laser range finder and target designator. Information is displayed inside pilots’ and co-pilots’ helmets.