Israeli defence giant in arms deal with India's Tata

[Neo]

Israeli defence giant in arms deal with India's Tata ​

Tue May 13, 2008

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed an agreement with India's massive Tata business conglomerate to produce arms on the subcontinent, the company said in a statement.

IAI and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) signed a "framework agreement for cooperation in the development, manufacturing, marketing and support of defence products in India," the statement said.

The agreement covers a wide range of defence and aerospace products, including missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, radars, electronic warfare systems and homeland security systems, it said, adding that the two will sign an agreement establishing a joint-venture company in India shortly.

IAI is the largest aerospace and defence firm in Israel employing more than 16,000 people and reported 3.3 billion dollars (2.1 billion euros) worth of sales in 2007.

TASL is part of the massive Indian Tata Group, which consists of 98 companies and operates in more than 80 countries.

Israel has had full diplomatic relations with India since 1992, and is the second largest supplier of arms to the country after Russia.

In February the two countries agreed on a 625 million dollar (400 million euro) joint venture to build anti-aircraft missiles for the Indian navy.

The agreement came a month after India launched an Israeli spy satellite into orbit under a commercial contract.

Israeli defence giant in arms deal with India's Tata - Yahoo! News

 

[Energon]

This is good news. The Israelis are very proficient at making hi-tech weapon-systems aimed at minimizing collateral damage in anti-insurgency operations. Hopefully the Indian Armed forces will start inducting such systems in order to minimize their own loss of personnel and avoid long drawn out firefights with terrorists which put the lives of many innocent bystanders at risk.