India, Israel seek links on futuristic defence tech

What is the News?

The Israel Defence Minister is on a visit to India.

Note: 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the formation of the official diplomatic ties between India and Israel.

What are the key highlights of his visit to India?

Signed Vision Statement

India and Israel signed a ‘Vision Statement’ to further deepen the defence cooperation in a manner that harnesses Israel’s “technological advance and operational experience” together with India’s “extraordinary development and production capabilities”.

In addition, they discussed partnerships within the government-to-government framework, military training, and technological cooperation with a focus on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and defensive capabilities.

India-Israel Defence Cooperation: Israel has been one of India’s top defence partners supplying a range of high-end defence equipment. For instance:

Indian armed forces rely heavily on Israeli Searcher and Heron UAVs to meet their surveillance requirements.

In 2020, the Indian Army inducted Negev Light Machine Guns from Israel.

In 2021, the Army placed orders for smaller, expendable ‘SkyStriker’ drones to be manufactured in Bengaluru by a joint venture between Israel’s Elbit System and India’s Alpha Design Technologies.

In October 2021, India and Israel had agreed to form a task force to formulate a comprehensive 10-year roadmap to identify new areas of cooperation as part of efforts to further advance the bilateral defence cooperation.

The two countries also have several joint development projects in the pipeline, including the Long Range Surface to Air Missile also called Barak-8 for the Indian Navy’s warships.

Source: The post is based on the article “India, Israel seek links on futuristic defence tech” published in The Hindu on 3rd June 2022.