Contrarian
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2006
- Messages
- 11,571
- Reaction score
- 4
Israel set to emerge India's biggest defence supplier
Rahul Datta | New Delhi
With the maturing of at least two major deals, Israel is likely to emerge as the biggest defence partner of India in the next fiscal.
The country likely to emerge as the second biggest defence supplier is the US, whose Defence Secretary Robert Gates will pay his maiden visit to New Delhi in the last week of February to discuss further opening up of the defence sector between the two democracies.
In the backdrop of proposed acquisition of weapon platforms from Israel and the US, the Government is likely to hike the budget for the next financial year by Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 crore from this year's Rs 97,000 crore.
The budgetary provisions for the next year would hover around 2.7 per cent of the GDP even though the political class and strategists lobbied for raising it to three per cent, sources said here on Wednesday.
Having established diplomatic relations more than a decade and half ago, India and Israel have strengthened their defence relations and Israel has now emerged as the second defence exporter after Russia.
The next fiscal was likely to see the Israeli industries signing a deal for more than one billion dollars with India for 50 Green Pine radars to bolster our air defence.
India acquired three of these highly sophisticated radars for air defence system. With the successful test of and with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully testing its defence shield missiles late last year, the need for more Gareen Pine radars had cropped up.
Keen to develop and manufacture the missile in-house, the DRDO was in favour of acquiring the technology transfer for 50 more Green Pine radars and the public sector Bharat Electronic Limited was identified as the manufacturer, sources said.
The entire package was likely to cross the one billion dollar mark thereby making it one of biggest deals with Israel in the last few years, they added.
These radars are critical component of the defence shield and the exo (outside the atmosphere) and endo (within the atmosphere) missiles developed by the DRDO rely on them to warn within 15 seconds about an incoming enemy missile and the response including the successful interception and shooting down the hostile missile in the next 20 to 25 seconds, sources said.
The other major deal with Israel in the next fiscal was highly sophisticated weapons and communication systems for the elite Special Forces of the Indian Army. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the nod for the more than 500 million dollar deal last month involving 40 items.
The Special Forces would get items like underwater rifles, kayaks, diver propulsion vehicles, radio transponders, beacon guidance systems and bullet-proof jackets among others through Government-to-Government sale from the US and Israel, source said. In fact, most of the equipment would come from Israel as our security forces were already using some of the best close quarter rifles manufactured by Israel, he pointed out.
The UPA Government also cleared the biggest ever arms deal with the US involving purchase of six large transport planes at an estimated cost of one billion dollars. The nod was given by the CCS last week for the Hercules C-130 J aircraft which has all weather and night flying capabilities and ideally suited for Special Forces operations behind the enemy lines. This commitment would also see the financial planners providing for funds in the next year's budget, sources said.
Factsheet
# Govt likely to hike defence budget by Rs 3,500 crore to Rs 4,000 crore from this year's Rs 97,000 crore
# Budgetary provisions would hover around 2.7 per cent of the GDP
# There is a demand to raise it to 3 per cent
# Israel to sign a deal for 50 Green Pine radars worth $1 billion
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front_page&file_name=story2%2Etxt&counter_img=2
Rahul Datta | New Delhi
With the maturing of at least two major deals, Israel is likely to emerge as the biggest defence partner of India in the next fiscal.
The country likely to emerge as the second biggest defence supplier is the US, whose Defence Secretary Robert Gates will pay his maiden visit to New Delhi in the last week of February to discuss further opening up of the defence sector between the two democracies.
In the backdrop of proposed acquisition of weapon platforms from Israel and the US, the Government is likely to hike the budget for the next financial year by Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 crore from this year's Rs 97,000 crore.
The budgetary provisions for the next year would hover around 2.7 per cent of the GDP even though the political class and strategists lobbied for raising it to three per cent, sources said here on Wednesday.
Having established diplomatic relations more than a decade and half ago, India and Israel have strengthened their defence relations and Israel has now emerged as the second defence exporter after Russia.
The next fiscal was likely to see the Israeli industries signing a deal for more than one billion dollars with India for 50 Green Pine radars to bolster our air defence.
India acquired three of these highly sophisticated radars for air defence system. With the successful test of and with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully testing its defence shield missiles late last year, the need for more Gareen Pine radars had cropped up.
Keen to develop and manufacture the missile in-house, the DRDO was in favour of acquiring the technology transfer for 50 more Green Pine radars and the public sector Bharat Electronic Limited was identified as the manufacturer, sources said.
The entire package was likely to cross the one billion dollar mark thereby making it one of biggest deals with Israel in the last few years, they added.
These radars are critical component of the defence shield and the exo (outside the atmosphere) and endo (within the atmosphere) missiles developed by the DRDO rely on them to warn within 15 seconds about an incoming enemy missile and the response including the successful interception and shooting down the hostile missile in the next 20 to 25 seconds, sources said.
The other major deal with Israel in the next fiscal was highly sophisticated weapons and communication systems for the elite Special Forces of the Indian Army. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the nod for the more than 500 million dollar deal last month involving 40 items.
The Special Forces would get items like underwater rifles, kayaks, diver propulsion vehicles, radio transponders, beacon guidance systems and bullet-proof jackets among others through Government-to-Government sale from the US and Israel, source said. In fact, most of the equipment would come from Israel as our security forces were already using some of the best close quarter rifles manufactured by Israel, he pointed out.
The UPA Government also cleared the biggest ever arms deal with the US involving purchase of six large transport planes at an estimated cost of one billion dollars. The nod was given by the CCS last week for the Hercules C-130 J aircraft which has all weather and night flying capabilities and ideally suited for Special Forces operations behind the enemy lines. This commitment would also see the financial planners providing for funds in the next year's budget, sources said.
Factsheet
# Govt likely to hike defence budget by Rs 3,500 crore to Rs 4,000 crore from this year's Rs 97,000 crore
# Budgetary provisions would hover around 2.7 per cent of the GDP
# There is a demand to raise it to 3 per cent
# Israel to sign a deal for 50 Green Pine radars worth $1 billion
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front_page&file_name=story2%2Etxt&counter_img=2
