India signs $777 million deal with Israel for Barak 8 missile systems

Published On: October 25, 2018 02:00 PM NPT By: Agencies

Photo Courtesy: Agencies

TEHRAN, Oct 25: Israel’s main firm in developing military and commercial aerospace technology says it has won a $777 million contract to supply Barak 8 long-range surface-to-air missile system (LRSAM) air and missile systems to seven ships in the Indian navy.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), in a statement released on Wednesday, announced that the contract is with India’s state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), which serves as the main contractor in the project.

“IAI's partnership with India dates many years back and has culminated in joint system development and production. India is a major market for IAI and we plan to protect and reinforce our positioning in India, also in view of increasing competition.

“For its part, IAI management continually refreshes its business strategy while preserving the core capability and growth engines, of which the Barak 8 is an example,” IAI Chief Executive Officer Nimrod Sheffer said.

With this deal, sales of the Barak 8 over the past few years exceed $6 billion, IAI said.

Barak 8 LRSAM air and missile system is reportedly being used by the Israeli navy as well as India’s navy, air and ground forces.

It was developed by IAI in collaboration with Israel’s ministry of military affairs, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, Israeli and Indian navies, Israel’s Rafael and local industries in India and Israel.

LRSAM is designed to deal with any incoming airborne threats and is equipped with advanced phased-array radar, command and control, mobile launchers and missiles with advanced radio frequency (RF) seekers. The missile reportedly has a range of 90-150 kilometers.

Israel is a major military equipment supplier to India, selling an average of $1 billion of military equipment each year.

Last year, IAI signed a military deal worth nearly $2 billion to supply India’s army and navy with missile systems.

This was followed by a $630 million contract with BEL to supply Barak 8 surface-to-air missile systems for four ships in the Indian navy.