Israel, India defence and security ties to grow stronger

"The financial year gets over in March and we expect a number of deals to be signed. Most of them are in the last negotiation stages," a source said.

Asked what kind of deals are to be signed, the source, said, "They are in various field from up gradation to specialised software, buying of equipments and others".

In the last few years, Israel has emerged as the second largest defence supplier to India after Russia and following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Israel has become a major player in the homeland security arena too.

"You cannot ignore the fact that Israel has very high level of specialisation in such products. From buyer-seller relationship, we are now working jointly on research and development," another source said.

Defence trade with Israel includes buying of billions of dollars of military equipment including UAVs, missiles and command and control systems besides fire arms.
Sources said one of the main attractions of Israeli defence market was that Tel Aviv is ready to share its technical know-how and is ready for joint production.

The cooperation is not just on already developed projects but also which are futuristic.
It is not that India only needs Israel because Tel Aviv is also "pulling out all stops" to ensure that relations with India grows.

The Indian purchases, according to Israeli sources, provide critical oxygen for Israel's military-industrial complex, something key to Israel's ability to continue developing state-of-the-art weaponry critical for its own security, The Jerusalem Post daily had said in an article during External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's just concluded two-day visit to the country.

In India, the buyers of Israeli defence and security equipments include the army, navy, air force, paramilitary forces and specialised counter-terrorism units and security agencies.
Sources said the software, weapons and arms that are being supplied by Tel Aviv is also being used by Israel's elite army thus ensuring dependability.

The area of cooperation in defence includes air defence systems. Modernisation of tanks and fighter aircraft is also another area where cooperation has increased in recent past.
Anti-terror cooperation was also one of the important elements that was covered during Krishna’s visit.

During his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Krishna said terrorism is a "problem" that is being commonly faced by both Israel as well as India.

"So I think we will have to work out a strategy as to how we address ourselves the scourge of international terrorism which has become the curse for the entire humanity.
I think are effort should be to checkmate it and ultimately eradicate terror from the face of the earth," Krishna said.

Official sources said the situation Afghanistan and the region were also discussed during Krishna’s visit.

Israel fears that terror group working in the region might join hands with Arabic terror organisations that could pose a real security threat to Tel Aviv. It must not be forgotten that during the Mumbai attacks, one of the targets was a Chabbad house.