An Israeli arms company has signed a $100 million deal with the Indian army and air force, under which 1,000 missile kits will be transferred to the South Asian state.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems – an Israeli company which manufactures weapons for the Israeli army – signed the contract with Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems Ltd. India (KRAS) for $100 million.
The deal will see 1,000 Barak 8/MRSAM missile kits manufactured for the Indian army and air force, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Israel's Rafael to sell $100m. worth of Barak 8 missile kits to India | The Jerusalem post https://t.co/RVswjmNNje
— Sergei (Sagy) Migdal (@migdalser) July 12, 2019
The Israeli daily explained that the MRSAM missile system “is a land-based configuration of the long-range surface-to-air missile (LRSAM) or Barak-8 naval air defense system”.
The deal forms part of a joint agreement between the two companies under the “Make in India” initiative, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched in 2014.
This is not the first arms deal signed between Israel and India. In January a delegation from Israel’s National Security Council, headed by National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat, visited India and met with Modi. The pair reportedly discussed weapons deals currently held between the two countries and the prospect of further cooperation.
As part of its largest non-defence project in India, Israel is designing a new looped water grid system to ensure that the 11 dams in Maharashtra's drought-hit district never run dryhttps://t.co/l3vneKlmvq
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) July 8, 2019
Israel-India relations have extended outside the arms trade. In 2017 Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel, calling the visit “groundbreaking”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the visit “historic”, saying it would “deepen co-operation in a wide range of fields – security, agriculture, water, energy – basically in almost every field Israel is involved in”.
Why Netanyahu is going to India 10 days before Israel's election | Analysis https://t.co/swMPbf2A1o
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) July 5, 2019
Netanyahu is also expected to visit India later this year. The visit – which reportedly came at Netanyahu’s initiative – is slated to take place in early September, though an exact date has not yet been revealed. The timing of the visit is no coincidence, given that Israel will head to its second general election this year on September 17.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
