Naval chief on a four-day visit to Israel - The Times of India
Naval chief on a four-day visit to Israel
TNN, Oct 12, 2010, 01.01am IST
NEW DELHI: The already-expansive defence ties with Israel continue on their upward trajectory, with Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma being the latest top-level military official to head for Tel Aviv.
Admiral Verma, who left for Israel on Monday, is slated to hold talks with Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak, chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Navy chief Eliezer Marom during his four-day visit.
This comes at a time when the focus in the bilateral defence relationship is on having various joint R&D projects -- from high-endurance and rotary UAVs, submarine-launched cruise missiles and anti-ballistic missile systems to network-centric operations, micro-satellite surveillance systems, advanced precision-guided munitions (PGMs) and third-generation night-vision devices.
Israel has emerged as the second largest defence supplier to India, notching up military business worth $10 billion since the 1999 Kargil conflict, next only to Russia, as reported earlier.
India, incidentally, has pressed ahead with joint R&D projects with Israeli armament companies despite allegations of kickbacks. For instance, the Rs 2,606-crore project between DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) to develop a supersonic 70-km range Barak-NG (next generation) missile defence system or LR-SAM (long-range surface-to-air missile) system for the Navy is scheduled for completion by May 2011.
Similarly, IAF wants to induct nine air defence squadrons under the mammoth Rs 10,075-crore DRDO-IAI project to develop a MR-SAM (medium-range SAM) system, capable of detecting and destroying hostile aircraft at a range of 80 km, at the earliest.
Naval chief on a four-day visit to Israel
TNN, Oct 12, 2010, 01.01am IST
NEW DELHI: The already-expansive defence ties with Israel continue on their upward trajectory, with Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma being the latest top-level military official to head for Tel Aviv.
Admiral Verma, who left for Israel on Monday, is slated to hold talks with Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak, chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Navy chief Eliezer Marom during his four-day visit.
This comes at a time when the focus in the bilateral defence relationship is on having various joint R&D projects -- from high-endurance and rotary UAVs, submarine-launched cruise missiles and anti-ballistic missile systems to network-centric operations, micro-satellite surveillance systems, advanced precision-guided munitions (PGMs) and third-generation night-vision devices.
Israel has emerged as the second largest defence supplier to India, notching up military business worth $10 billion since the 1999 Kargil conflict, next only to Russia, as reported earlier.
India, incidentally, has pressed ahead with joint R&D projects with Israeli armament companies despite allegations of kickbacks. For instance, the Rs 2,606-crore project between DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) to develop a supersonic 70-km range Barak-NG (next generation) missile defence system or LR-SAM (long-range surface-to-air missile) system for the Navy is scheduled for completion by May 2011.
Similarly, IAF wants to induct nine air defence squadrons under the mammoth Rs 10,075-crore DRDO-IAI project to develop a MR-SAM (medium-range SAM) system, capable of detecting and destroying hostile aircraft at a range of 80 km, at the earliest.
