Jordan asked the U.S. on Thursday to sell it an air defense system as war loomed in Iraq, the kingdom's state news agency said.
The Petra agency said King Abdullah had told visiting U.S. General Tommy Franks that Amman was determined to purchase an air defence system "to tighten control over its airspace and to protect it against any foreign intervention".
It said the Jordanian chief-of-staff, General Khaled al-Sarayrah, had asked Franks to supply Jordan with such a system during a meeting earlier in the day.
Officials have said that Jordan turned down an original request to be equipped by Washington with upgraded U.S. Patriot batteries.
Jordan had been in talks with Russian officials for at least two years to secure an S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile system capable of responding to Iraqi or Israeli threats.
But earlier this month officials said they had turned to Germany and the Netherlands for such a system after delays in the deployment of the Russian version.
By boosting its air defense systems, Jordan aims to prevent Israel from using the kingdom's airspace to bomb Iraqi targets, if Baghdad attacks Israel with missile, like in 1991. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
