The hardly talked about Indo-Israel military relationship is strengthening by the day

India's honeymooning with Israel's military-industrial entities began in February 1992 when senior ministry of defence officials along with those from the Indian Navy (IN), Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Defence Research & Development Organisation's (DRDO) Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) got their first formal peek at the vast array of force multipliers and precision-guided munitions of Israeli origin at the Asian Aerospace exhibition in Singapore. There, a high-level delegation led by the then defence minister Sharad Pawar and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral L Ramdas that were visiting the exhibition, were briefed in great detail by entities like Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), RAFAEL Armament Development Authority, Elbit Systems, Tadiran and Israel Military Industries (IMI). Since then, bilateral defence cooperation has been ever-increasing, graduating from a buyer-seller relationship worth some USD250 million annually (between 1992 and 2002) to full-fledged joint research and development projects and military-industrial partnerships that are today worth more than USD1.15 billion. Of the DRDO's 439 on-going R&D projects worth Rs 169.25 billion, only two — involving the BrahMos supersonic multi-role cruise missile and the multi-role transport aircraft (MRTA) — have been initiated with Russia as joint, strategic, risk-sharing R&D ventures. On the other hand, the DRDO has, since early 2002, established more than 10 such mammoth joint ventures with Israel 's sprawling military-industrial infrastructure.

For the DRDO, presently manned by around 29,000 scientific and engineering personnel spread over 50 R & D laboratories, the outsourcing of crucial technologies and project management-cum-risk reduction expertise from Israel without any strings tied enables it to swiftly overcome its inherent deficiencies like technical complexities and non-availability of state-of-the-art R & D infrastructure within the country, which in turn would enable the DRDO to dramatically reduce the duration of an R & D project's development phase and hopefully do away with the current state of extended and long-lasting user trials for indigenously developed weapons and sensor systems. Israel , on the other hand, has benefited enormously from such partnerships in terms of having guaranteed access to the much-needed R & D funding from India , as well as a highly appreciative and lucrative market for its most sought-after new-generation force multiplier weapon systems that India is barred from procuring from Europe and North America due to existing technology denial regimes. Thus, it came as no surprise l ast November when, i n a spirit of give-and-take, and in a controversial break from its longstanding military space policy of strategic self-reliance, Israel decided to launch (due next January) its first radar imaging satellite — the 260kg TechSAR — on board the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Sriharikota-based Satish Dhawan Space Centre at a cost of $15 million, rather than its own indigenous Shavit rocket launcher. Under a bilateral accord on strategic military-industrial cooperation inked in September 2003, Israel also agreed to sell India clones of both its TechSAR and the Ofeq-7 overhead reconnaissance satellite (carrying multi-spectral cameras) to give New Delhi the critical strategic targeting capabilities required for maintaining a minimum credible nuclear deterrent. A constellation of six such satellites, along with ISRO-designed and built satellites like the Cartosat-2, will make up the space-based reconnaissance and surveillance (SBRS) system that will supply direct feeds to both the Strategic Forces Command and the Defence Imagery Processing and Analysis Centre.

What appears below is a detailed listing, being unveiled for the first time ever, of the major R&D joint ventures that have been launched to date by the DRDO with Israeli military-industrial participation.

A consortium of Israeli companies comprising IMI's Rocket Systems Division and IAI's MLM Division have been roped in by the DRDO for developing the infrastructure required for producing new-generation HTPB-based composite propellants, and for developing novel transporter/erector launchers for carrying and firing futuristic tactical surface-to-surface missiles. Earlier, IMI had won a USD140 million contract in May 2005 to build five new chemical explosive production plants located at Nalanda in Bihar . IMI is currently supervising two subcontractors — Israel 's Bateman Engineering and India 's Nicco Corp — to build and commission the five plants by late 2007. Previously, in January 2002, IMI won a contract to supply 100,000 125mm tank-fired APFSDS-T and anti-personnel/anti-materiel (APAM) rounds to the army, and this was followed by a USD15.5 million contract signed in December 2002 for supplying the army with 3,474 5.56mm Tavor 12 assault rifles fitted with under-barrel grenade launchers, 240 Galil 7.62mm sniper rifles, as well as related night-vision and laser rangefinding/targeting equipment. In January 2005, IMI inked a USD10 million contract with the MoD-owned Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) to enable the latter to licence-produce some 300,000 125mm M-711 APFSDS-T and APAM rounds, and this was followed by a USD50 million contract to supply trajectory correction systems for incorporation into the rockets to be launched by the DRDO-developed Pinaka 214mm multi-barrel rocket launchers of the army.

Yet another major joint R&D effort between the DRDO and IMI now underway calls for radically upgrading of the T-90S+ main battle tank (MBT) by co-developing a new gun-control system, plus a stabilised, electrically-driven turret that will house Elbit Systems' twin Thermal Imaging Stand Alone Sights (TISAS) for both the gunner and commander, a battle management/land navigation system incorporating a digital data recorder built by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), a 120mm rifled-bore main gun originally developed by DRDO for the Arjun Mk1 MBT that fires the IAI-built LAHAT laser-guided 8km-range anti-armour/helicopter missile as well as OFB-produced super-velocity FSAPDS-T ammunition, four laser warning sensors, a muzzle reference system, ammunition stowage system, Halon-based fire-suppression system that is automatically activated within 0.025 seconds, and a semi-automatic, electrically-driven magazine-based ammo loader. The MBT's hull will be modified internally to house a combined NBC protection/air-conditioning system (the latter for individual crew members using micro-cooling techniques) sourced from Israel 's Kinetics Ltd. This joint R&D effort, costing some USD150 million, will see three upgraded T-90S+ MBT prototypes being subjected to user's trials by late 2007, following which the MoD's Avadi-based Heavy Vehicles Factory will commence bulk production of 600 such turrets under a USD400 million project. The MBT hulls will be imported in completely knocked-down condition from Russia 's Uralvagonzavod JSC. A single-unit TISAS will also be installed on board the Abhay futuristic tracked armoured infantry vehicle now being developed by the DRDO's Avadi-based Combat Vehicles R&D Establishment.

For implementing the DRDO's Rs5.7 billion ‘Project Divya Drishti', which was launched two years ago for developing a ground-based, truck-mounted passive airspace surveillance system (PSS), entities like Tadiran Spectralink and the Elisra subsidiary of Elbit Systems have joined forces with the DRDO's Hyderabad-based Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL), Electronics Corp of India Ltd's Strategic Electronics Division, and Tata Power Company Ltd's Strategic Electronics Division. The PSS will use angle-of-arrival (AOA) triangulation technique using signals from hostile airborne, ground-based and naval radars, jammers, TACAN/DME/IFF transponders, data links and other pulse/continuous emitters to determine the range (up to 800km) bearing of targets in two dimensions; while a time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) triangulation technique will accurately plot targets (out to 450km) in three dimensions. Each deployed PSS system will comprise four stations equipped with signals receivers and processing suites, and each station will be deployed 60km away from each other. A complete PSS deployment pattern for defending static and mobile strategic installations will comprise three PSS, or 12 stations, which will provide data feeds in real-time to both the Indian Army (via the Army Strategic Operational Information Dissemination System, or ASTROIDS), and the IAF for its integrated air command, control and communications system (IACCCS). At any time one station will be assigned as the central/master station, and the remaining as slaves. The master station will scan the surrounding area in 360 degrees. Once the targets detected the remaining three slaves too will track the targets within the coverage area. Frequency bands detectable by the PSS will be between 0.135–18 GHz bandwidth, with up to 200 real-time tracks being conducted. Each PSS station will have an emitter finger-printing system , and a raisable mast-mounted antenna array comprising a combination of HF, VHF, UHF and microwave directional antennae. A data bandwidth of only 33.6kbps will be used for secure, encrypted data transfer between each of the four PSS stations by using digital radio-relay via microwave line-of-sight antennae, or through SATCOM channels using VSAT antennae. Each PSS station will have a mean-time-between-failures of 3,000 hours, and will also incorporate built-in test equipment for swift fault localisation. Both Tadiran Spectralink and Elisra, along with IAI's ELTA Electronics subsidiaries are already involved in enhancing the IACCCS (FORCE October 2006, pages 41-42), and the ASTROIDS that will be used for real-time exchange of operational information between Army HQ, Command HQs, and Corps HQs — the overall aim being to establish robust C4I2 linkages between the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war-fighting.

Another significant airspace surveillance system that is being co-developed by the DRDO and IAI is the mini-airborne early warning and control system, which will incorporate conformal L-band active phased-array antennae developed by the DRDO's Hyderabad-based DLRL and Electronics Research & Development Establishment (LRDE), with systems integration being done by the DRDO's Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS). The Rs18 billion project will see the LRDE's mission sensor suite and an IAI-supplied SIGINT suite being installed on board a G-550 business jet, with the CABS being prime systems integrator and IAI acting as principal technical-cum-project management consultant. IAI will also assist LRDE to develop an inverse synthetic aperture radar variant of the L-band radar that will be capable of tracking hostile ground targets — both stationary and mobile — 300km away. This radar, to be belly-mounted on a G-550, will use Ku-band and X-band data links for transmitting battlespace reconnaissance data to ground-based Corps-level HQs in real-time (FORCE October 2006, pages 48-49).

For optimising the IACCCS for undertaking ballistic/cruise missile defence operations, IAI's ELTA Electronics Division has become the sole supplier of ground-based and airborne active phased-array radars like the two ground-based, 500km-range EL/M-2080 Green Pine (delivered in late 2001 and mid-2002) and the first two of 10 aerostat-mounted EL/M-2084s that arrived early last year.

In the arena of electronic warfare (EW), the DRDO's Bangalore-based Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) has joined forces with Elisra to co-develop at a cost of USD100 million a range of integrated EW suites for combat aircraft (like the ‘Mayawi' suite for the Tejas LCA), helicopters like the Dhruv ALH's Light Combat Helicopter variant (FORCE October 2006, pages 48-50), and the twin turbofan-powered MRTA now being co-developed by India and Russia. While Elisra will be developing optronic missile approach warning systems, chaff/flare countermeasures dispensers and an aerial towed decoy jammer, DARE will develop the related cooling systems and radar warning receivers using miniaturised radar emitter finger-printing systems, and will also be the primary systems integrator. Elisra is currently co-developing with DLRL a ground-based national electronic warfare test range at Shamshabad.

For developing the Sagarika nuclear warhead-carrying turbojet-powered, vertically-launched cruise missile (codenamed Project PJ-2), the DRDO has since December 2003 enlisted the services of Israeli companies like IMI and RAFAEL Armament Development Authority (FORCE April 2006, pages 9-11). The DRDO began conceptual studies on the Sagarika in October 1999 (following initial CCNS approval for the USD500 million project in December 1998) that called for it to have a range of 700nm and delivering a 500kg payload. The first six prototypes of Sagarika — incorporating a solid-fuel booster, a DARE-developed flight control system incorporating a ‘switchover mechanism' which will enable the missile to settle into cruise phase after takeoff, and a dual-mode optronic/millimeter-wave terminal seeker similar to that on board the BrahMos supersonic multi-role cruise missile — will be available for flight-tests by mid-2008.

On January 27 this year, the DRDO, RAFAEL and IAI inked a trilateral R&D contract to co-develop two types of surface-to-air missiles (SAM) over a five-year period. One calls for developing at a cost of USD350 million the 60km-range Barak-2 vertically-launched SAM for all three armed services of India . The second SAM will be a submarine-launched variant of RAFAEL's Python-5 air combat missile (that along with the Derby was ordered in February 2005 for the Indian Navy's 16 upgraded Sea Harrier FRS Mk51 V/STOL combat aircraft) that will be capable of destroying hovering ASW helicopters or low-flying maritime patrol/ASW aircraft. Launch customer for the Barak-2 will be the IN, which will install this SAM on board its three new Project 15A Kolkata-class destroyers (that will have ELTA's EL/M-2248 MF-STAR S-band multi-mode active phased-array radars) and three Project 28A corvettes (that will have the LRDE-developed, BEL-built S-band Central Acquisition Radars on board). RAFAEL has also been roped in for developing the three-axis stabilisation system for the naval, army and air force variants of the DRDO's 9.5km-range Trishul VSHORADS and Akash 27km-range M-SAM, and for devising engineering solutions for developing weight-budgeted, multi-mount turrets for both SAMs. The Trishul's army variant, comprising eight canister-contained missiles, a BEL-built PIW-519 Flycatcher X-band radar and its IFF transponder and three K-band target illuminators all mounted on a swivelling turret, will be mounted on a T-72M MBT chassis, while the air force variant's turret will be carried by a BEML-built TATRA 8x8. The SHORADS' passive, dual wavelength infra-red search-and-track system, identical to that for the naval Barak-1 PDMS, will be supplied by ELTA. The Trishul's naval variant will use the X-band Oerlikon Contraves TMX-EO combined radar/optronic sensor (including a TV camera, infra-red camera and laser rangefinder) for fire-control. The turret of the army variant of Akash too will be mounted a T-72M chassis, while the air force variant will be on the TATRA 8x8.

For expediting the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft's (LCA) airworthiness certification and weapons qualification phases, IAI has since 2004 been collaborating with the Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and DARE to design, develop and validate the LCA's weapons pylons, open-architecture stores management system and its interfaces to the ADA-developed quadruplex digital flight control system and DARE/Elisra-developed integrated EW suite, and for developing related mini-bird rig and iron-bird rigs. In addition, IAI's LAHAV Division is helping ADA design the LCA's weight-budgeted avionics bulkheads and wiring harnesses. Also, ELTA's EL/M-2052 X-band active phased-array airborne radar will be procured off-the-shelf for installation on board the five pre-production LCA prototypes (in place of the X-band pulse-Doppler multi-mode radar whose development by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is unlikely to be successfully completed). Consequently, as a result of IAI's inputs, the ADA now plans a highly accelerated flight-test schedule comprising 1,200 sorties to be flown by the five LCA prototypes, which in turn will lead to the LCA being given initial operational clearance by 2009 and final operational clearance by 2011.

Israeli companies are also deeply involved with the DRDO's USD 188.7 million R&D effort for futuristic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). In early 2005, the MoD sanctioned funding for the ADE and DARE to develop three-tier UAV architecture under an industry/technology tie-up with IAI's MALAT business subsidiary (FORCE February 2006, pages 38-40). The three UAVs currently on the drawing boards include the Pawan low altitude long endurance (LALE) UAV for the army and IAF, Gagan medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV for the army and IAF, and the Rustam high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAV for the IAF and Indian Navy. In addition, the ADE and DARE along with IAI's MALAT Division will co-develop universal, containerised ground control-cum-image exploitation stations (GIES) —both ground-based/land-mobile and shipborne — for each of these three UAVs, plus related image exploitation software. In a related development, IAI/MALAT will begin deliveries of 16 Heron-2 MALE UAVs (ordered last January for USD220 million) to the Indian Army by the year's end. Presently, Heron-2s are operational only with the IAF and Indian Navy. The 16 Heron-2s will be equally divided between the army's 14 and 15 Corps, both based in Jammu and Kashmir. 15 Corps' Heron-2s will operate out of newly-built air bases equipped with two-km-long runways at Manasbal and the Avantipur. 14 Corps' Heron-2s, on the other hand, will be operated along the Sino-Indian border out of the IAF's air bases at Leh and Srinagar .

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