NEW DELHI, India -- According to an item published in the latest issue of Indian Military Review Israel and India are reportedly on the verge of signing a new “mega” defense deal, which would include Israel helping India develop a new mobile missile system.
Giving details, the new issue of Indian Military Review, published from New Delhi the contract negotiation committee has virtually sealed the joint development of a medium-range surface-to-air missile system (MR-SAM) for the Indian Army through collaboration between Defence Reserach & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The initial Army order for one regiment of the MR-SAM systems, with their multi-function surveillance and threat tracking radars as well as weapon control systems, could cost over Rs 9,000 crore (roughly $1.67 billion). More missiles could be bought at a later date to strengthen the Army’s air defence capabilities.The final orders could be worth over $6 billion.
The MR-SAMs, which will be on mobile launchers, will serve as India’s replacement for the Russian-built Kvadrat and OSA-AKM systems that India purchased in the 1970s and 1980s. India has been searching the open market for replacements for some years now, and previously rejected other offers because they did not contain sufficient technology transfer clauses, according to Defense News. The Indian Army wants to use the MR-SAM to defend mechanized formations operating in the plains and desert regions of the country, it said.
The missiles will be built in India by public sector undertaking Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), which produces some of India’s most highly touted missiles such as the Agni, along with privately-owned Tata Power SED and Larsen & Toubro.
The DRDO-IAI-BDL model is identical to the SAM projects already under way for the Navy and IAF, which are together worth around Rs 13,000 crore (roughly $2.15 billion). While the Air Force and Navy SAMs have an interception range of about 70 kilometers, the army missiles will only have a range of 50 km. Both the naval and air force SAM programmes were hit with significant delays, and neither the naval or air versions of the missiles are operational yet.
During his visit to India in February, Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya'alon had even offered the advanced Iron Dome interceptor, which was used to intercept the flurry of rockets fired into his country last year, for PM Narendra Modi's Make in India policy.
Such SAM systems are basically "area defence weapons" that locate, track and destroy incoming hostile aircraft, drones, missiles and helicopters. They are the advanced versions of the Israeli Barak-I "point anti-missile defence systems" with a 9-km range, which were fitted on 14 Indian warships several years ago.
The new SAM projects, however, have been plagued by huge delays. The one to arm Indian warships at a cost of Rs 2,606 crore, which was approved in December 2005, was to be completed by May 2011.
An Indian warship—the 6,800-tonne destroyer INS Kolkata commissioned by Modi in August last year— is gearing up for the actual test-firing of the SAM system for the first time. After its HOT (home on target) tests were completed in Israel last year, the SAM has also been fitted in another destroyer INS Kochi, which will be commissioned later this year.
The story has been similar for the Rs 10,076 crore SAM project sanctioned in February 2009 for IAF to plug the existing gaps in air defence coverage of the country. The project completion date has been pushed back to August 2016. It was this long delay, in fact, which had led India to put negotiations for the Army version on the backburner till now.
Israel is among the top defence suppliers to India, having already inked deals and projects worth around $10 billion over the last 15 years, which range from spy and armed drones to sophisticated missile and radar systems.
Israel is the third largest defence supplier to India, behind America and Russia, with a wide range from spy and armed drones to sophisticated missile and radar systems. India is, in fact, the largest buyer of Israeli defense technology. In September, India agreed to buy 262 Israeli-made Barak-1 surface-to-air missiles for its navy for $144 million. In October, they signed another deal for 8,356 Spike anti-tank guided missiles , rejecting a rival US offer. They also purchased 321 launchers from Israel for $525 million.
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