India Seeks Us Missile Tech From Israel
India is negotiating with Israel to acquire US missile technology even as Washington increases pressure to prevent the country from building an arsenal of missiles.
Defence secretary T Banerjee was in Israel a fornight ago at the head of an army and air force team to negotiate the purchase of components and technology of the Israeli Arrow missile programme, a joint venture with the United States.
Sources said that India needs advanced launching and guidance systems to perfect its Prithvi, which has a range of 250 kms, and the fledgeling submarine-launched Sagarika missiles.
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The sources said that the defence team firmed up purchase of 10 Searcher unmanned air vehicle (UAVs), worth about Rs 40 crore, for reconnaissance missions. Negotiations on the cost and specifications are to begin shortly, the sources added.
The UAV war between India and Pakistan hotted up after a UAV, believed to have come from Pakistan, was shot down over Bhuj in Gujarat in January.
Banerjee was preceded by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief A P J Abdul Kalam, who was in Israel last year to study that countrys expertise in missile and related technologies.
India is determined to acquire an indigenous capability in missiles and has been fairly successful in its programme.
However, it has not been able to perfect home-grown technologies due to its inability to source certain critical components and systems.
The Prithvi missile is yet to be deployed with forward units of the army even after five years of development.
On Sunday, the long range air force version of the Prithvi missile was successfully test-fired from the missile testing range at Balasore. The missile has a mobile launcher and is intended to destroy enemy air bases in forward areas.
Israel is negotiating the sale of a number of defence systems worth $500 million, including a large contract for the supply of electronics systems for the upgradation of MiG-21 aircraft in the Indian Air Forces inventory. Israeli Aircraft Industries will be a sub-contractor while the overall contract has already been awarded to Russia.
Indo-Israeli defence ties are expected to grow following the visit of Israeli President Ezer Weizman a couple of months ago when a defence-industry-to-industry bilateral cooperation pact was signed. Both sides have not given out any details of the agreement, but the sources said that it will translate into India sourcing western components at low cost from Israel.