India’s Defence Relationship With Israel Grows Warmer By $1.1 billion

Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) has reportedly signed a deal worth US$ 1.1 billion with an "Asian country", which is suspected to be India. Coinciding with the visit of India's external affairs minister, S M Krishna to Jerasulem during the last fornight, was an announcement from the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) publicizing the largest deal signed between itself and an "Asian Country". Indian officials accompanying Mr. Krishna spoke of "defence ties", as part of the agenda of the Foreign Minister's visit. The Israeli media first reported India as the receipient of the military hardware but later corrected itself to say "Asian country". Other than India, Israel has defence relationships with Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and sometimes China. However, none of these countries other than India have large military procurments planned. The lIAI-'Asian country' agreement is for missiles, anti-missile systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), intelligence and other systems and will be executed over four years, IAI reported to the Tel Aviv Stock exchange. Israel has a played a key role it equipping India with gadgets for war-time activities. On 1 June, 2011 the Israeli High Tech Industry Association signed a MOU with CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) to increase the burgeoning defence sales between the two nations. Following the Mumbai carnage of 26-11 by Pakistan-based terrorists, Israel has supplied India with RISAT-2, its most advanced spy satellite, to keep a watch on all military movements on the borders and the 7000 km coastline of the country. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Israel is to supply India with loitering anti-missile drone, called HAROP, which can be launched over a suspected area for hours at a distance of 1000 km, spot the targets and attack them with missiles. Israel has rapidly climbed to the number two spot among India's defence suppliers after Russia in a mere decade. Most of the imports have been high tech defence equipment such as missiles, electronic systems and surveillance systems.