India–Israel defence cooperation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit to Israel to meet his “friend” and counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will witness wide-ranging discussions.
On February 22, responding to an invite by Israeli PM, PM Modi on his social media platform X said, “Thank you, my friend, Prime Minister Netanyahu. I fully agree with you on the bond between India and Israel as well as the diverse nature of our bilateral relations. India deeply values the enduring friendship with Israel, built on trust, innovation, and a shared commitment to peace and progress. Looking forward to our discussions during my upcoming Israel visit.”
From Wednesday, PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Israel.
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Given India’s history of strong defence deals with Israel in the past, these “discussions” could involve talks on the defence sector as well.
Israel is one of India’s top defence partners, especially in missile systems, drones, radar, and electronic warfare. With joint production and multi-billion-dollar deals, the relationship continues to deepen.
Reportedly, between 2020 and 2024, Israel’s total defence sales to India were 20.5 billion dollars. India purchased weapons, drones, missile systems, radars, and defence technology from Israel.
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India–Israel defence cooperation: Major deals
As per reports, major deals include: 1.1 billion dollar deal for Phalcon AWACS (2004), 400 million dollar deal for Heron-TP armed drones (2015), Heron UAV purchase (2009), 1 billion dollar deal for 2 additional AWACS (2016), 1.6 billion dollar Barak-8 missile deal for Indian Army (2017), additional SPICE bomb procurement (2019-2020), etc.
India’s share of Israeli exports was 34 per cent between 2020 and 2024.
Interestingly, Israel falls in the top three countries that supply defence equipment to India.
India’s major defence equipment suppliers
The data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for 2019–2023/2020–2024, suggests that India buys defence equipment mainly from Russia (36%), France (33%), Israel (13%), the USA 10–13% and the UK (about 3%).
Conclusion
Israel is already among the leading defence partners of India. The country accounts for a noteworthy share of its military imports. With this second visit to Israel, PM Modi is expected to further consolidate strategic and technological cooperation between the two countries. As India and Israel look to expand their grounds in areas such as missile systems, drones, surveillance technology, and defence manufacturing, the discussions between the two “friends” could pave the way for deeper defence engagement. Also, in the near future, there could be new agreements.
About the author: Anurag Sason is an Indian journalist with experience in mainstream journalism. He has worked in newspaper, news agency, TV, news app (short video sharing app) and digital media. He tweets at @AnuragSason
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