Article Posted on : - Jan 21, 2013

Indian UAV Rustom.

NEW DELHI (PTI): Upgrade of the country's fleet of UAVs and the status of a joint venture air defence system are expected to be high on agenda of IAF Chief Air Chief marshal NAK Browne who is on a four-day visit to Israel to further strengthen defence ties between the two countries.

During the visit, he is scheduled to call on Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Lt Gen Benjamin Gantz, Chief of the General Staff of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Tel Aviv, to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues on the ongoing defence cooperation between India and Israel, the IAF said in a release.

At present, the two main projects between India and Israel are the upgrade of all its UAVs with the three Services and the Medium Range-Surface to Air Missile system being co-developed by the DRDO and Israeli firms, officials said.

The Air Chief would also visit the Israeli Air Force Flight School at Hatzerim air base and other operational bases. To oversee the progress of various projects being carried forward as joint ventures between the two countries, he would meet and interact with IAF officers and DRDO officials, the release said.

The Air Chief would visit 'Yad Vashem', Israel's Memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 and Memorial of Indian Soldiers in Jerusalem, Indian War Cemetery, in commemoration of sacrifice of Indian fallen soldiers who helped liberate Haifa in 1918, in World War-I.

The Indian Army commemorates September 23 as Haifa Day to pay its respects to the two brave Indian Cavalry Regiments that helped liberate the city in 1918 following a dashing cavalry action by the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.

The visit of Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne to Israel, as the Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, comes after 12 years of his posting as the Defence Attache at Tel Aviv for three years. He was responsible for establishing the Indian Defence Wing in Tel Aviv in April 1997.