A small country in size, Israel is one of the major arms sellers in the world and a source of military hardware. It was the fifth greatest in this field a couple of years ago, and now the country’s annual arms sales volume is around $3 billion to $4 billion.
Israel’s number one arms customer is India, Asia’s number two giant. India has acquired all kinds of weapons, ammunitions, radars, unmanned aircraft and other types of defense equipment from Israel over the past years, and has been signed various contracts for joint arms and munition production. Not only have these acquisitions and contracts multiplied, they have also taken various forms, though discretely.
A new and undisclosed contract Israel reportedly signed with India last week is the lastest example of the military cooperation that has been developing between these two countries over the past years. Israel and India have agreed on the joint development and production of a system of missile-busters, called Barak, worth $350 million, according to American Defense News, a leading defense magazine.
The Barak systems at issue will be installed on warships to provide a new and advanced shield against air missiles. The contract was signed between the Israeli Aviation Industry (IAI) and the Indian Defense Research and Development Laboratory (IDRDL). The project will be financed equally by both firms. The agreement reportedly will go into effect within the next five years.
As a matter of fact, India obtained the first model of the Barak systems from Israel in 2001 at a cost of $270 million and the system became operational after it was installed on the Navy carrier Viraat. Considering both the first as well as the lastest models, the Barak system is given full credit for providing a complete defense against any kind of anti-ship missile.
The Israelis have not made any statement on this latest deal that was signed with India; however, they do not deny that Israel signed several “large-scale” contracts of particular importance with some countries at the defense industry fair, DEFEXPO, in New Delhi last week. It was reserve Maj. Gen. Yossi Ben-Hanan, head of the Organization for Foreign Defense Assistance and Exportation, a subset of the Israeli Defense Ministry, who represented Israel at this fair. Let us take a good note of this.
Israel’s relations with India have developed in many areas other than arms and defense. These two countries which are very different from each other in many crucial aspects such as strategic cooperation, combatting terrorism, trade and technology, now enjoy enviable and complex relations.
The three-day visit of retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, head of Israel’s National Security Council, to India, when the Barak deal was being signed, was another important aspect of these relations. The talks Eiland had with his Indian counterpart, M.K. Narayanan, Indian Defense Minister Pranap Muherji and the Foreign Minister Sihyam Saran were of paramount importance and also demonstrated the dimensions of the relations.
The spokesperson of the Indian Foreign Ministry said bilateral relations are tackled in their entirety during these talks as well as regional-global security perspectives and relations with South Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Middle East.
Furthermore, if these general issues are reduced to individual cases and separate countries and if the issues are dealt with in detail, I believe that relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and especially Indo-American ties, have been discussed in detail.
Israeli-Indian relations have significant aspects and reflections from the geographical perspective of South Asia as well as the Middle East; therefore, they need to be followed closely.
We pointed out that Indian-Israeli bilateral relations will acquire various dimensions because Israel is having dialogue with Afghanistan after Pakistan, and all these developments obviously are crucial for the power balance in South Asia and the Middle East.
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20060210&hn=29601
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February 14, 2006 at 1:16 pm