India Approves Purchase Of Israeli Barak Missiles

The Indian Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved purchase of Barak surface-to-air missiles for the navy among other proposals for an estimated $132 million.

The new missiles are urgently needed to replace the current ones which have completed their shelf life. The procurement of Barak missiles was approved with a categorisation of “Buy Global” under the option clause from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, an unnamed ministry source was quoted as saying by the Hindu Tuesday.

India’s sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya carried out the maiden test of the newly installed Barak short range surface-to-air missile last month.

Barak 8 is an Indian-Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM), designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs as well as cruise missiles and combat jets out to a maximum range of 70 km. However, the missile has been increased to a maximum range of 90 km following "range upgrade discussions" between India and Israel during November 2014.

The other deals include procurement of expendable Bathy thermograph systems for the Navy to detect temperature changes under water through the foreign military sales route from the US and procurement of equipment to counter mines in the sea, a repeat order, worth ₹311 crore ($47 million).