Israel and India sign $630 mn deal to develop missiles for Indian navy

The Dollar Business Bureau

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) the official branch of Israel defence said today that it has signed another deal worth $630 mn to supply Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM) systems to the Indian navy.

The deal would be jointly executed by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) serving as the main contractor in the project, IAI and DRDO. The development of the missile in India would give a boost to the PM’s Make in India campaign.

This is also going to be Israel’s largest defence contract with India which is worth $2 billion. It is aimed to equip the Indian navy with state-of-the-art missile defence systems.

IAI will be developing the LRSAM systems in joint collaboration with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). According to an official release by the government of India the LRSAM comprises of several key state-of-the-art elements, advanced phased-array radar, command-and-control system, launchers and missiles with advanced radio-frequency (RF) seekers. The system provides the ultimate protection against a variety of aerial, naval and air borne threats. It is currently operational with the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Israel Defence Forces. The Indian Army is also likely to deploy it soon.

An official release by IAI says that the LRSAM was successfully tested last week in India on an Indian navy ship as part of operational interception trial ‘demonstrating again the systems operational capabilities in a representative scenario with genuine target", the statement read. "All components of the weapon system have successfully met the goals set to them.”

"The new contract adds to other deals signed in the last decade by IAI with India’s defence forces, reinforcing IAIs global leadership position in air and missile defence systems. The inclusion of Indian governmental company BEL for the first time, is a step up in our relationship with the Indian industry as part of the Make in India policy," IAIs president and CEO, Joseph Weiss, said.

"We take pride, along with our partners in India, in the great results of the trial conducted last week, which re-establishes the Systems reliability and quality as well as its advanced technological capabilities," Boaz Levi, IAIs executive vice president and general manager of systems, Missiles and Space Group, said.

Israel last month closed a $2 bn defence deal with India, with IAI taking the major share of it, bagging contracts worth $ 1.6 billion.