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| India-Pakistan |
| India, Israel To Seal New Missile Deal |
| 2007-07-09 |
| India and Israel have agreed to expand their already considerable missile development cooperation with an even longer-range version of their extended-range Barak ship defense system, this time for the Indian Air Force. Sources from both countries say they expect to sign an add-on development contract by early next year, following last month’s conclusion of a memorandum of agreement between Indian defense research authorities and prime contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The new land-based air defense system will feature a range of 150 kilometers, more than double that of the supersonic, vertically launched Barak-8, or BarakNG (New Generation) now being developed for the Indian Navy. “We’ve agreed to extend our ongoing BarakNG project with a longer-range missile capable of performing additional missions and meeting a larger array of threats,” one Israeli source said in early July, noting that India’s fiscal year ends in March 2008. “We’re all looking to sign a contract by the end of the fiscal year.” The program, he said, is “a natural extension” of the approximately $480 million, five-year contract concluded in early 2006 between the Indian Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) and IAI. Indian Defence Ministry sources said Israeli partners have agreed to transfer all technologies and manufacturing capabilities relevant to the co-development program. They noted that the new land-based air defense system — a planned replacement for the Indian Air Force’s Russian-made Pechora surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) — would provide full hemispheric, 360-degree interception coverage against existing and future threats. Sources declined to provide projected program costs, but estimated the effort would take about four years and a minimum of $300 million to develop unique system elements and an initial tranche of the land-based missiles. The Indian Air Force has a requirement for nine advanced air defense squadrons, each of which will feature two SAM units. A typical unit will include an acquisition radar, a guidance radar, a command-and-control center and three launchers with eight missiles apiece. Yossi Weiss, general manager of IAI’s Systems, Missiles and Space Group, said in mid-May the Barak-8 air defense system under development would be “more capable and more sophisticated” than the U.S.-developed Patriot PAC-3. He declined to discuss details of the firm’s ongoing cooperation with India, and did not offer any information regarding new longer-range versions of the Barak-based system. India’s top ballistic missile scientist, Vijay Kumar Saraswat, said in December that India was no longer interested in buying the PAC-3, United Press International reported. Indian defense experts said the new land-based, longer-range Barak system also would benefit the Indian Navy, which is methodically pursuing longer-range capabilities since the 2004 approval of its Blue Water Navy doctrine. The deal extends arms-manufacturing ties with Israel even as India reaches out to other regional countries such as Iran and Qatar, with which New Delhi recently signed a groundbreaking agreement to codify defense cooperation. Gurpreet Khurana, a Navy commander and a defense analyst of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), a New Delhi think tank, called the long-range Barak a tactical defense system, not a strategic or offensive one. “A longer-range anti-missile system has become imperative today, with the increased [120-kilometer] range of anti-ship missiles like the Harpoons,” Khurana said. “Besides, the missile platforms have a stand-off firing capability — the P-3C Orion can launch the missile at an Indian Carrier Battle Group, without even entering the air-defense zone. In any case, interception of missiles at longer ranges is necessary, particularly to prevent saturation of air-defense response.” The latest Barak-based co-development project marks the third phase of Indo-Israeli cooperation based on the air defense system by IAI and Israel’s Rafael Armament Development Authority. The cooperation began in 2001 with a $270 million deal for the basic Barak ship defense system. Mutual satisfaction with system performance and Israeli willingness to engage in technology transfers led in January 2006 to the 70-kilometer-range BarakNG program. “This has been a phenomenally successful cooperative program, which has served as a springboard to all kinds of other potential projects,” an Israeli industry source said. He estimated that the three Barak-based missile development efforts combined exceed $1.3 billion. Indian Defence Ministry sour-ces said scientists from the government’s DRDL missile laboratory in Hyderabad are already working in Israel on the BarakNG program. In a June 29 conference in Hyderabad, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam praised the growing cooperation between India and Israel, particularly the cooperation with IAI. His guest of honor at the event, hosted by the Aeronautical and Astronautical Societies of India, was Itzhak Nissan, IAI’s president and chief executive, who has led Barak and other missile and space cooperative development projects with India for more than a decade. Noting that IAI is partner “on some of the most advanced projects in the world,” Nissan expressed high regard for the scientific and manufacturing capabilities that India contributes to joint development efforts, according to an IAI account of the event, released July 2. Indo-Israeli defense ties have been on the upswing since 1999, despite the opposition of the Indian leftist parties that helped bring the ruling United Progressive Alliance government to power. Today, Israel trails only Russia in defense exports to India. New Delhi has bought UAVs and electronic warfare systems for MiG aircraft, has received technology for the Barak missile, Phalcon radar for the Indian AWACS program and the advanced Green Pine radar for India’s homegrown air defense program, Indian Defence Ministry sources said. “While it is commonly known that Israel is India’s second-largest defense supplier, what is not generally known is the large number of platforms, such as AWACS to fighter aircraft, ships and tanks, on which the Israelis are providing systems support,” said defense analyst Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier. “One can even expect a stranglehold of the Israeli defense suppliers unless India works out very detailed and foolproof integrity and sustenance clauses in their agreements,” Bhonsle said. “This also implies a strategic long-term relationship as that between Russia and India today.” |
| Posted by:John Frum |