RUSSIA BEGINS MARKETING VEHICLE-MOUNTED SA-18MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia has launched marketing of a vehicle-mounted surface-to-air missile to Arab states.
The first client of the vehicle-mounted SA-18 anti-aircraft system would be Syria, officials said. The vehicle used for the SA-18 has not yet been selected but was expected to be the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle.
Officials said the vehicle-mounted SA-18 was meant to ease Israeli and U.S. concerns over the sale of surface-to-air missiles to Syria. Russia and the United States have signed an accord that would commit them to report sales of man-portable air defense systems.
"It would be difficult to make the accord retroactive," Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Sergei Prikhodko said.