Israel to supply missiles to India for USD 777 million

Jerusalem: India has awarded an additional USD 777 million deal to a leading Israeli defence firm for supplying Barak 8 LR-SAM Air and Missile Defence Systems to seven ships of the Indian Navy, the company announced Wednesday. 

The Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM) system is an operational Air and Missile Defence (AMD) system used by Israel’s navy as well as by India’s navy, air and land forces. With the latest deal, the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) said that the sale of Barak 8 system — jointly developed by India and Israel — a sign of strong bilateral partnership in defence, has crossed USD 6 billion over the past few years. 

The system provides broad aerial and point defence against a wide range of threats to the marine arena from the air, sea or land. The system integrates several advanced systems as digital radar, command and control, launchers, interceptors with modern radio frequency seekers, data link and system-wide connectivity. 

Designed to defend against a variety of short-to-long-range airborne threats including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, drones and projectiles, Barak-8 incorporates a state-of-the-art phased array multi-mission radar, two-way data link, and a flexible command and control system, enabling users to simultaneously engage multiple targets day and night and in all weather conditions. 

The missile system has been jointly developed by IAI, India’s DRDO, Israel’s  Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastr-ucture, Elta Systems, Rafael and some other Indian defence companies. The new contract announced by IAI was entered with Indian state-owned company Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which serves as the main contractor in the project. “Congratulations to Israel  Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the defence establishment on the huge transaction involving the sale of Barak 8 to India,” Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman said on twitter. 

The deal is “proof that security is an investment, and not expenditure”, he said adding that the IAI is a national asset, which must be maintained and strengthened.