Rafael Awards $100M To Indo-Israeli JV To Supply 1000 Barak Missile Kits

Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS), a joint venture between India’s Kalyani Group and Israeli firm Rafael has won a $100 million (INR 685 crore) contract from overseas partner Rafael to supply 1,000 units of Barak 8 missile kits.

The order is to produce Barak 8 medium range surface-to-air (MR-SAM) missile kits over the next four years to be supplied to India’s state-run Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) for further integration.

“Production of missile kits will begin sometime in the fourth quarter of this year to deliver the orders in three-and-a-half-years,” said Col Rajinder Bhatia, CEO of Bharat ForgeDefence and Aerospace, part of the Kalyani Group.

The joint venture also offers product life cycle support services for LLQRM (low-level quick reaction missile) systems to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Barak 8 is designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, UAVs, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat jets. Both maritime and land-based versions of the system exist. The range of the missile system is 70-100 kilometers.

The Barak 8 has a length of about 4.5 meters, a diameter of 0.225 meters at missile body, and 0.54 meters at the booster stage, a wingspan of 0.94 meters and weighs 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead which detonates at proximity. The missile has maximum speed of Mach 2 with a maximum operational range of 70 km, which was later increased to 100 km.