India, Israel in defence deal talks

India in in talks with Israel to buy three new Phalcon aircraft at a price of US$300-400 million per aircraft.

15 April, 2008

Provoking the Left parties further, the UPA government is planning to join hands with Israel for three new Phalcon aircraft. This contract would be the biggest defence partnership of Israel with any country.

The Left parties led by CPI (M) have been accusing the Congress for trying to come closer to the Jewish state. They have termed the new move as signs of appeasing Big brother US. They have pointed out that the new agreement with Israel would have a negative impact on India’s cordial relations with West Asian countries, especially Arab world.

India’s defence ministry is now in talks with Israel on the deal. If the deal comes through, India would need to pay US$300-400 million per aircraft. The new deal includes a radar and electronic intelligence system designed and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries' subsidiary, Elta Systems Group, installed in an Ilyushin-76 aircraft supplied by Russia.

Earlier, in 2004, India and Israel had signed a US$1.1 billion contract for the supply of three Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), built on Russian Ilyushin-76 airplanes. The first of three planes are now undergoing flight tests in Russia and are expected to reach here by September 2008. India would get two more flights over next two years.

The new aircraft would strengthen India’s air defence as it has a wide range of new technologies. AWACS can detect aerial threats and serve as a platform to direct combat jets to targets. It is an all-weather system capable of logging 60 targets simultaneously and has a range of up to 400 km. India is the single largest importer of defence equipment from Israel. It constitutes about 50 per cent of Israel's defence exports and about 30 per cent of India's imports.

Left parties had accused the Manmohan Singh government of turning a blind eye towards violation of Indian laws by Israeli companies. They had been asking for strong action against Israeli firms such as Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Rafael, which manufactured the Barak missile system for harsh violation of Indian laws.