U.S. DENIES ADVANCED HELLFIRE TO ISRAEL

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The United States has rejected an Israeli request for an
advanced airborne munition.

Israeli sources said the Bush administration has withheld approval for an
Israeli request for the sale of advanced versions of the Hellfire anti-tank
missile. The sources said the models were deployed on U.S. Army AH-64D
Apache Longbow attack helicopters during the war in Iraq in 2003.

The models sought by Israel are the L, M and N models of the Hellfire.
Israel has been supplied with earlier versions of the missile.

The Israel Air Force has sought to procure the latest models of the Hellfire
as part of preparations for the arrival of new Apache Longbow helicopters.
The L, M and N models, with a millimeter wave fire-and-forget guidance
system, were regarded as having performed extremely well in Iraq in urban
warfare as well as anti-armor operations.
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