Signifying growing defence ties, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil lanba will visit Israel next week to discuss the entire range of maritime issues and review progress of ongoing projects.
His visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to that country in July. It will be the first ever visit by an Indian prime minister since diplomatic relations established between the two countries in 1990.
During his five-day tour starting June 11, the Navy chief, who is also Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, will hold talks with Israel's Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot besides several other senior military officials, sources said here on Wednesday. lanba may also call on Defence Minister Avigdor lieberman, sources said here on Wednesday.
The Navy chief's visit comes at a time when Israel has emerged as one of the biggest weapons exporter to India after US and Russia. In fact, the two countries recently inked two deals for the Indian Navy worth over three billion dollars for manufacturing long range surface to air missiles as per the 'Make in India' policy. The public sector Bharat Electronic limited(BEl) will manufacture the missiles in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries(IAI).
The lRSAMs provides a shield to warships from missiles fired from air, land or sea and include several key state-of-the-art elements, advanced phased-array radar (MFSTAR), command and control system, launchers and missiles. The deal will provide lRSAMs for four warships to begin with, they said.
Moreover, the two countries are set to have the first ever joint air exercise in Israel in August thereby signaling that the defence relations between the two nations have come out of the "closet," officials said.
Incidentally, Israel defence industry is already involved in several projects of Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO).
Israel has already sold big-ticket items like Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems(AWACS) to India. While the first lot of three was bought in 2004 for more than one billion dollars. The government recently cleared another contract for additional two Phalcons worth over Rs 7,500 crore.
These planes can detect movement of incoming missiles and aircraft at a range of more than 400 km and give 360 degree coverage and the radars made by Israel are mounted on Russian made Il-76 aircraft.