India eyes Israeli Merkava Tank, APC systems

[dani191]

India eyes Israeli Merkava Tank, APC systems
Thursday, December 01, 2016
By: Globes

Source Link: CLICK HERE

• 
• 
• 

Israeli companies involved in the Merkava tank and Namer armored personnel carrier held a seminar in India, Israel's biggest defense customer.

Representatives of over 20 Israeli companies involved in the development and production program for the Merkava tank and Namer armored personnel carrier today finished the first seminar ever conducted in India. Dozens of Indian companies attended the seminar. The Ministry of Defense SIBAT - Ministry of Defense International Defense Cooperation Authority sponsored the seminar, in view of the emerging needs of Indian industry in order to prepare for the large-scale procurement of armored vehicles by the Indian army expected in the coming years.

The growing security ties between India and Israel have been reflected in recent years by major Indian procurement of Gil anti-tank missiles produced by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., upgrades of Indian tanks by Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT), joint development with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) of Barak 8 missiles, and more. The Ministry of Defense, Manufacturers Association of Israel, and the Indian Industries Association are now trying to extend the ties even further and facilitate cooperation between Israeli companies and companies involved in future procurement of armored vehicles by the Indian army. The aim is to have Israeli systems developed in industries related to the Merkava in Indian armored vehicles. "We want to make connections between companies," Ministry of Defense Tank Administration Commander Brig. Gen. Baruch Matzliah told "Globes" today. "We have technology, and the Indians are interested in it, in addition to the need to create new jobs in the country. It appears that there is fertile ground for cooperation in the coming years." Two years ago, Elbit Systems signed an agreement to upgrade 1,000 T-72 tanks used by the Indian army. The deal was believed to total hundreds of millions of dollars. Elbit Systems will install advanced fire control systems developed for the IDF's Merkava in these T-72s.

In addition to upgrading T-72s, India is manufacturing another Russian tank, the T-90, in its territory under special license. The Ministry of Defense now believes that Israeli companies can also be included in this program through the installing of systems they have developed in tanks produced for the Indian army.

Representatives of Imco Industries Ltd. (TASE: IMCO), Nir-Or Israel Electronics, Urdan Metal & Casting Industries, Orlite Industries, C. Mer Industries Ltd. (TASE: CMER), Beth-El Zikhron Yaaqov Industries, Magam Safety, Bental Industries, and other companies manufacturing components for the Merkava and Namer took part in the seminar.

200 Israeli companies with a total of 10,000 employees throughout Israel are involved in these enterprises. Aggregate exports by these companies are estimated at $700 million.

In addition to production of the Merkava Mark IV and the Namer, the Tank Administration is also spearheading the development of the Eitan, a new wheeled Israeli APC currently under consideration. If and when it is decided to procure it, the Ministry of Defense's orders from these companies may increase.

The defense establishment is having trouble estimating the potential value of possible cooperative ventures involving Israeli and Indian companies aimed at the Indian armored vehicles procurement program. In any case, the Indian hosts have already explained the prevailing business environment in India to their Israeli guests. Every deal signed with India must include the transfer of Israeli know-how to India, and the production lines must be in the country. "In any case, we will take care to keep some of the production in Israel - and of course we will keep special know-how in this area," Matzliah said.


Comprehensive surveys ::

In recent days, representatives of Israeli industries and the defense establishment received a comprehensive survey from senior Indian army officers of its buildup of forces for the coming year and the defense challenges it faces, especially on the country's borders with Pakistan and China. "For a long time, our relations with India have been more than just buyer and seller," SIBAT head Brigadier General (res.) Michel Ben-Baruch says. "It's a partnership, a common road, it’s a real friendship."

The industries involved in the Merkava and Namer program have been exporting components and systems developed for the Israeli tanks and APCs for years. The Ministry of Defense has previously claimed that every shekel invested in the Merkava program is returned fourfold to the Israeli economy through these exports. At the same time, for the first time, the Ministry of Defense is referring a mass of companies in this area to a target growth market with potential for deals amounting to billions of dollars. "India is Israel's biggest defense export destination. There is a significant business opportunity here to expand the volume of our activity," says C. Mer Industries defense and technology division general manager and former SIBAT head Yaron Livnat. "Most of us are familiar with the Indian market, and we're confident that we have a great deal to offer them in cooperation with local companies."
http://defencenews.in/article.aspx?id=139371

 

[Papa Dragon]

Has IA gone full retard! Why the heck do they want a weapons platform when they have developed their strategies on an existing one and are building another indigenously and an entirely new platform would be a logistical and maintenance nightmare. These corrupt IA generals would go to any extent for their kickbacks and commissions and wouldn't hesitate to kill any indigenous project in the making

 

[Chaosmaster]

Has IA gone full retard! Why the heck do they want a weapons platform when they have developed their strategies on an existing one and are building another indigenously and an entirely new platform would be a logistical and maintenance nightmare. These corrupt IA generals would go to any extent for their kickbacks and commissions and wouldn't hesitate to kill any indigenous project in the making

Not a single word from indian govt organisations. This is just the work of lobbyists trying to create buzz in the indian market and ride on it. Nothing we have never seen before. Chill out.

 

[Papa Dragon]

A self arms-embargo on certain weapons systems which we have already developed or made significant progress would do the job so that no such news could come out and generals wouldn't think of killing any new or existing indigenous projects

 

[Arsalan 345]

Has IA gone full retard! Why the heck do they want a weapons platform when they have developed their strategies on an existing one and are building another indigenously and an entirely new platform would be a logistical and maintenance nightmare. These corrupt IA generals would go to any extent for their kickbacks and commissions and wouldn't hesitate to kill any indigenous project in the making

where is made in india project? i think congress have every right to ask questions now.fighters might be americans probably f-16s or more rafales.tanks israeli and russian.where is arjun tank? do they want to abandon arjun just for merkava?

 

[Chaosmaster]

where is made in india project? i think congress have every right to ask questions now.fighters might be americans probably f-16s or more rafales.tanks israeli and russian.where is arjun tank? do they want to abandon arjun just for merkava?

It cant be blamed on "make in India" project if Arjun ran into problems with the army. just few days ago there were reports that the issues have been sorted out and was posted in this forum as well.
Beside, Arjun falls under "made in india", different thing. No one is looking at f-16, gripen or merkava. tejas will be inducted as has been clarified by MoD and same will happen with Arjun. we don't need Merkava. T90 does the job for us and even if Arjun can be taken into Punjab, it still can work in Rajasthan with substantial amount of firepower, its a heavy tank after all.

 

[KapitaanAli]

We're certainly not looking at the Merkava.
But subsystems, yes. The fact that the seminar was for Indian companies implies that this will contribute towards our future tank design in the works.

Merkava is not designed suitable to Indian doctrine.

 

[randomradio]

There is no truth to this report.

India is not interested in the Merkava or the Namer. Indian companies are interested in Israeli support for the FRCV program.

There is a separate trilateral proposal to make APCs between India, US and Israel, which is independent of the FRCV.

Merkava is not designed suitable to Indian doctrine.

Correct. The IA is looking for a 50T tank that can become invisible to the naked eye and with amphibious capabilities. Merkava is none of those.

 

[Papa Dragon]

where is made in india project? i think congress have every right to ask questions now.fighters might be americans probably f-16s or more rafales.tanks israeli and russian.where is arjun tank? do they want to abandon arjun just for merkava?

There is no way Merkava would be procured in the first place. Arjun outpaced the T-90 when pitted against each other during performance trails but weight has been a drawback which has been sorted out recently with the new improvements. IA is trying to come up with ridiculous reasons and asking the DRDO to make unreasonable changes when the actual tank has been designed only after IA has finalized the specifications but the incompetency of PSUs is also to blame in delaying the development process

Lobbyists and media try to disrupt the indigenous projects so that these foreign systems will be procured and these guys will receive huge kickbacks including some of IA's top brass. Infact the new FRCV specs have been designed to favor the T-14 Armata but I'm sure private Indian defense players will come up with decent designs most probably by themselves as Tata, Kalyani etc have already developed IFVs and Amphibious assault vehicles or they may partner with a foreign firm.

Coming to F-16s or Gripens, the single engine tender has been cancelled and Tejas will be procured in large numbers of over 300 fighters comprising both Mk-1, 1A and 2. Hopefully MoD should also focus on fastracking the development of AMCA while procuring 2 more squadrons as an interim measure.

If IN decides to go with the Rafale-M for IAC-3, it would be a huge advantage so that we could maintain commonality and uniformity among our fleets which would also make the logistics and maintenance easier and Rafale would definitely set up a production line in India

 

[randomradio]

Infact the new FRCV specs have been designed to favor the T-14 Armata

The FRCV specs are only similar to Armata though. The tender also does not favour the Armata because GoI says they will own the IPR. So it's impossible for the Russians to simply hand over their tank.

 

[Śakra]

Source date 2016.

Sorry we don’t want zionist weapons. @2800

 

[MimophantSlayer]

What happened to arjun?


Arjunk...very close I must say

Recent article with an actual government source.

Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr S Christopher in an interview to The Tribune said, “We have had a meeting with the Vice-Chief of the Indian Army where it was agreed on accepting Mark-2. Modalities are being worked out”. Once done, the acceptance of necessity (AON) for 118 will be revived, he added.

The AON is decided by the Defence Acquisition Council headed by the Defence Minister. A total of 93 modifications have been done on the first version of Arjun — 124 were inducted — in 2010-2011.

On being asked if the Army was okay with the weight of the tank, the DRDO boss said: “The weight (the tank is almost 68 tonnes) has been accepted; that is a major change”. Most modern European tanks are of the same weight, and tank-transporters (specialised trucks) for Arjun are available.

The DRDO has promised to set up a system to maintain the Arjun Mark-2 within India. It will be an annual maintenance contract with the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) as a possible agency, Dr Christopher said. On the trials, he said, “These have done 4,000 kms of run, the upgrades will be tested.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/nation/arjun-mark-2-tank-set-to-see-light-of-day/563832.html

 

[$@rJen]

Never gonna happen... Arjun Mk2 is going to be inducted.. further the line more imprvments and the next gen tanks will be rolled out... no need to go for a new platform

 

[Ryuzaki]

This is typical dalal article,i doubt there is any interest in procuring such a system

 

[Theparadox]

We may buy APS for our Russian tanks from Israel but not more than that when Arjun mk-2 is coming.