THE Pentagon is angry with Israel after it discovered the Chinese fighter jet that collided with a US reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea was carrying Israeli-made air-to-air missiles.

The Israelis notified Washington of the sale of the Python Three missiles to China only after the collision, Rear Admiral Craig Quigley said. He said Washington was opposed to the proliferation of such a capable weapons system.

"I think we would have preferred to know in advance (of the Israeli sale), but we didn't get that," Admiral Quigley said.

Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid - $3.77 billion this year - and has a mutual defence agreement with Washington. The countries' military forces frequently train together and co-operate in developing weapons systems.

Israeli analysts had identified the missile from videotape shown at a Pentagon news conference by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of the Chinese F-8 fighter jet that collided on April 1 with a US EP-3 Aries II surveillance plane off China's coast near the southern island of Hainan.

China blamed the Aries II for the collision. The US insisted China's fighter was at fault.

China held hostage the 24-member crew of the US plane until last Thursday after holding them for 12 days. The videotape was made three months before the collision.

Israel has been selling the Python missiles to China since the late 1980s, according to analysts cited by the Washington Times.

Admiral Quigley said he did not know if the State Department had complained when it was notified of the sale.

But he compared it to a proposed Israeli sale to China of a Phalcon airborne radar surveillance and warning system that was shelved last year in response to strong public protests by the US.

"That's a good missile and its capabilities are considerable," Admiral Quigley said.

Needless to say the technology for these missiles, as with essentially all "Israeli" technology, was stolen from the US.

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