Article Posted on : - Dec 23, 2009

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and Israel achieved convergence of views on defence and security issues such as counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing, military cooperation, weapons trade, and joint research and development at a day long meeting here Tuesday.

The exchange of concerns and agreement on various defence issues took place at a Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting co-chaired by Indian Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and Israeli Defence Ministry Director General retired Brig Gen Pinchas Buchris, officials said.

India, incidentally, is Israel's biggest weapons customer and both countries have an expanding military relation, as Tel Aviv is the second largest defence supplier, after Russia, to New Delhi last year with nearly $9 billion trade since the 1999 Indo-Pak Kargil war.

During the talks, the two sides focused on cooperation in counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing, apart from military trade, a defence ministry official said.

New Delhi and Tel Aviv have all along shied away from talking about their defence relations in public, mostly due to political sensitivities in India.

Despite several allegations of kickbacks and Israeli companies being blacklisted by Indian Defence Ministry, the two countries have went on to sign contracts for joint design, development and production of arms and weapon systems, including the recent Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM) in February this year.

Apart from missiles, India and Israel have traded on sensor systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and also in ammunition production over the years.

Already, DRDO has a Rs 26 billion project with the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) for a 70-km range supersonic missile for the Indian Navy.

Moreover, India ordered three PHALCON AWACS from IAI and fitted them on Russian-built IL-76 airframe in 2004 and the first of the AWACS was inducted in the IAF in May this year.

Israel has also sold 'searcher' and 'Heron' UAVs to the Indian armed forces, apart from upgrading Indian Army Aviation Corps's helicopters.

Israeli Military Industries (IMI) was recently awarded contracts for setting up ammunition manufacturing units for 155-mm Bofors guns near Nalanda in Bihar, but the company was blacklisted along with six other companies following its name figuring in an FIR registered against the Ordnance Factory Board’s former Director General Sudipto Ghosh this year.

The JWG meeting comes close on the heels of the official visit of Israeli Chief of Defence Staff Lt Gen Gabi Ashkenazi earlier this month.

Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, had also visited Israel last month.