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India, Israel ink Rs 1,200 cr deal
PNS | New Delhi
India and Israel have inked a deal worth over Rs. 1,200 crore ($ 240 million) to revive ammunition production in Nalanda, Bihar. The deal between public sector Ordnance Factory Board and Israeli Military Industry (IMI) comprises four plants, which will be functional within a period of three years.
The deal was signed in the last week of March after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave its nod to the contract in January. The Nalanda plant was set up during the NDA regime when George Fernandes was the Defence Minister and represented Nalanda in the Lok Sabha. The project was supposed to manufacture bi-modular charges for ammunition for artillery guns including the 155mm Bofors gun.
The project, however, could not take off as the South African firm Denel, the main partner, was blacklisted by the UPA Government following charges of kickbacks in the anti-material rifles contract for the Army and the CBI initiated a probe.
Putting the Nalanda project on hold, the UPA Government then set up an expert committee to have fresh look at the project and the panel gave the green signal to the project in 2007, sources said here on Monday.
Following the green signal, the Government floated global tenders and the Government-owned Israeli firm bagged the contract worth over $ 240 million. The IMI would be main contractor, sources said adding the bulk of money for the plants would be put up by India and the plants were scheduled to start producing ammunition within three years.
The production facility within the country would help the Indian industry to have access to the latest technology and faster pace of indigenisation besides expanding the defence industrial base, they said.
Moreover, India within the next few years would go in for more than 1,200 artillery guns of 155mm calibre and logistics facilities within the country would help the Army to maintain operational preparedness without worrying about critical supplies of ammunition.
Incidentally, the Government also gave the nod for a Rs. 10,000 crore deal with Israel for production of medium range surface to air missiles last month. The deal between the Israel Aerospace Industry and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) would help the IAF to build a foolproof air defence shield around the strategic assets of the country.
Israel has emerged as the second biggest defence partner of India since diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1990. While Russia remains the biggest arms exporter to India, Israel was fast catching up and could overtake Russia within the next couple of years.
While Russia has the wherewithal to produce big platforms like aircraft, ships and tanks, Israel is the world leader in avionics, information technology, electronic warfare systems and highly complex network centric systems. Moreover, Israel also specialised in upgrades of weapon of systems including tanks, artillery guns, aircraft and radar systems.
The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> India Israel ink Rs 1200 cr deal
PNS | New Delhi
India and Israel have inked a deal worth over Rs. 1,200 crore ($ 240 million) to revive ammunition production in Nalanda, Bihar. The deal between public sector Ordnance Factory Board and Israeli Military Industry (IMI) comprises four plants, which will be functional within a period of three years.
The deal was signed in the last week of March after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave its nod to the contract in January. The Nalanda plant was set up during the NDA regime when George Fernandes was the Defence Minister and represented Nalanda in the Lok Sabha. The project was supposed to manufacture bi-modular charges for ammunition for artillery guns including the 155mm Bofors gun.
The project, however, could not take off as the South African firm Denel, the main partner, was blacklisted by the UPA Government following charges of kickbacks in the anti-material rifles contract for the Army and the CBI initiated a probe.
Putting the Nalanda project on hold, the UPA Government then set up an expert committee to have fresh look at the project and the panel gave the green signal to the project in 2007, sources said here on Monday.
Following the green signal, the Government floated global tenders and the Government-owned Israeli firm bagged the contract worth over $ 240 million. The IMI would be main contractor, sources said adding the bulk of money for the plants would be put up by India and the plants were scheduled to start producing ammunition within three years.
The production facility within the country would help the Indian industry to have access to the latest technology and faster pace of indigenisation besides expanding the defence industrial base, they said.
Moreover, India within the next few years would go in for more than 1,200 artillery guns of 155mm calibre and logistics facilities within the country would help the Army to maintain operational preparedness without worrying about critical supplies of ammunition.
Incidentally, the Government also gave the nod for a Rs. 10,000 crore deal with Israel for production of medium range surface to air missiles last month. The deal between the Israel Aerospace Industry and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) would help the IAF to build a foolproof air defence shield around the strategic assets of the country.
Israel has emerged as the second biggest defence partner of India since diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1990. While Russia remains the biggest arms exporter to India, Israel was fast catching up and could overtake Russia within the next couple of years.
While Russia has the wherewithal to produce big platforms like aircraft, ships and tanks, Israel is the world leader in avionics, information technology, electronic warfare systems and highly complex network centric systems. Moreover, Israel also specialised in upgrades of weapon of systems including tanks, artillery guns, aircraft and radar systems.
The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> India Israel ink Rs 1200 cr deal
