Israel's defense industry gets huge kudos this morning after India has chosen Israel's Spike anti-tank missile system over the United States' Javelin system. The contract is worth half a billion dollars.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will buy 8,356 Spike
missiles and 321 launchers from Israel in a deal worth 32 billion rupees
($525 million), defense ministry sources told AFP.
The government is moving to speed up long-delayed defense orders and
bolster its military. The Israeli deal comes after recent firing along
India's border with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan and tensions with giant
neighbor China.
The procurement deals, worth 800 billion rupees ($13.1 billion) in
total, were cleared at a meeting of India's Defense Acquisition Council,
headed by Defense Minister Arun Jaitley, on Saturday.
"It (the council) has cleared a deal for Spikes," a defense ministry official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
"It's a fire and forget kind of missile," the official said, referring to the fact the missile locks onto targets before firing.
"You can say there was a rival bid from the US for its Javelin
missiles," the official said, adding that India's army trialed the Spike
missiles "successfully last year".
Significantly, this latest development comes just one month after
India agreed to buy 262 Israeli-made Barak 1 surface-to-air missiles for
its navy, to the tune of $144 million.
India is currently the largest buyer of Israeli defense hardware, and
Israel's military delegation to India is second only in size to its
delegation to America. The two countries also have a Joint Working group
on counter-terrorism, with bilateral ties flourishing under India's new
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
...
Modi and US President Barack Obama agreed on greater defense
cooperation during a meeting in Washington last month, when the US
reportedly lobbied for its Javelin missiles.
"The DAC (Defense Acquisition Council) took the decision based on
purely technical reasons and based on hard facts. It had been on the
agenda for some time," another unnamed defense ministry official told AFP.
Israel's defense industry has demonstrated once again that it is capable of independence. That has huge implications for future relations with the United States. Change - but good change for once.
Video: David's Sling's (anti-missile system) first interception
The Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense
Agency completed the first phase of the development of the David's Sling
Weapon System, by conducting a successful interception test.
This
test included for the first time a successful interception by the
Stunner Missile of the DSWS. The test was conducted by Rafael Advanced
Defense systems at a test range in the southern part of Israel.
The
DSWS is designed to provide an additional layer of defense against
ballistic missiles by adding additional opportunities for interception
to the joint U.S.-Israel Arrow Weapon System, resulting in an
improvement in the State of Israel's defense architecture against
missile threats.
The prime contractor for the integration and
development of the David's Sling Weapon System is Rafael, in conjunction
with Raytheon. The system radar is being developed by ELTA Industries
and the Battle Management Center by Elbit Systems.
A new year and a new family of Spike missiles: Rafael is set to unveil its Mini-Spike at Eurosatory next week. The smallest member of Rafael’s electro-optic guided missiles, and the world’s smallest personal missile, Mini-Spike is the first missile to implement an anti-personnel precision attack missile.
With a range of 1.5 km, the Mini-Spike is designed to hit infantry forces that are inside shelters or dug-in trenches.
The missile and its canister together weighs 4 kg. The launcher uses target acquisition and wireless communication to view and guide the missile to its target.
The missile is 70 cm in length and 75 mm in diameter. Each soldier can carry four missiles with the special carrier, and the soldier carrying the launch and control system can carry and additional two missiles.
Israel may be about to take another step in privatizing its military equipment suppliers. Of course, the government can't use the word 'privatizing.'
Israel’s Globes business daily newspaper reports tonight that the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Defense have agreed on a plan to merge Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. The plan is also endorsed by IMI’s union representatives. A formal announcement is expected by the end of the month.
In the past the ministry of Finance insisted IMI should be privatized, a procedure that was not accepted by the unions nor by the ministry of defense, which supported merging the company with one of the country’s two government owned companies – IAI or Rafael. Merging of IMI with privately held Elbit Systems also encountered opposition on privatization grounds.
Both IAI and Rafael companies expressed interest in acquiring IMI, whose portfolio closely matches both company’s activities. It is anticipated that by merging IMI’s activities within Rafael, IMI could become financially stable.
For those who don't know how things work in what's left (and it's a lot despite perceptions abroad) of our socialist paradise, government workers - like IMI's and Rafael's - get salaries and especially benefits that are far more generous than those in the private sector. And they don't want to give them up.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
