BENGALURU // Israel’s defence minister arrived in India on Wednesday to help sell his country’s arms industry to the world’s largest defence importer and promote deepening military ties between the two countries.
India and Israel, which only established full diplomatic ties in 1992, are developing an increasingly close commercial and political relationship, particularly since Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was elected last May.
New Delhi is now the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment, while Israel is India’s largest customer after Russia.
In the first public visit to India by an Israeli defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon landed at the biennial Aero India airshow in Bengaluru – India’s biggest showcase of military equipment.
He said upon arrival that India was vital to his country’s defence industry.
“We are open to more or less [selling] anything. We believe that we have the better product,” he said at the Israeli pavillion, where executives from the country’s largest defence firms including Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems are showcasing their latest weaponry.
Israel wants to boost its trade in Asia to diversify export markets in response to potential trade sanctions in Europe, while India is keen to buy cutting-edge Israeli arms and access new technology to help upgrade its ill-equipped armed forces.
India is among Israel’s biggest customers for unarmed drones, and analysts say Tel Aviv is keen to use its headstart over rival makers such as the United States to increase sales to Delhi.
Under Mr Modi, Israel and India have pushed ahead with the joint development of an aerial defence system, which passed its first trial simulating combat conditions in November.
In October, India opted to buy Rafael’s Spike anti-tank guided missile in a deal worth $525 million, choosing the Israeli product over a US offer of its Javelin missiles.
Mr Modi has sought to tighten security ties with the US and Israel as he seeks to overhaul a largely Soviet-era arsenal and turn India into a global manufacturing hub.
At the same time, India has reduced its reliance on top weapons supplier Russia.
“India has always been trying to get rid of a dependency on one supplier,” said Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “The Russians are not terribly good at transferring technology.”
The US will be the top exhibitor at the air show with 64 companies, followed by France, the UK, Russia and Israel, according to India’s defence production secretary G Mohan Kumar.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and France’s Dassault Aviation SA will dominate the tarmac with fighter jets, transport and reconnaissance planes.
Mr Modi’s administration has cleared about $20 billion worth of arms purchases since he took power last year. He raised the foreign direct investment limit in defence to 49 per cent from an earlier cap of 26 per cent in a bid to spur manufacturing.
“This is the beginning of a new era for the defence industry in India – it will be no longer enough to buy equipment and simply assemble them here,” Mr Modi said at the air show on Wednesday.
“We have been doing this in the past without absorbing any technology or developing our own capabilities. In some areas we are where we were three decades ago.”
* Reuters ad Bloomberg
