World

India and Israel build partnership on drones and futuristic defence technologies

Israel, a powerhouse in the world of remotely-manned tools, has signed an agreement with India for the leasing, operation and maintenance of fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to the Indian Defence Forces.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Limited on the sidelines of the ongoing DefExpo 2022 at Gujarat’s Gandhinagar.

Through this MoU, HAL and IAI will collaborate on a prospective programme of leasing UAV systems to the Indian Defence Forces.

Like several other countries, Israel too has sent a high-level delegation to the 12th edition of Asia’s largest defence event.

Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India, was also present at the venue when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event on Wednesday.


Fully supporting India’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and the long-lasting partnership and commitment between the two countries, IAI has also announced the opening of its subsidiary IAI India Private Limited which will provide customer support, marketing, and business development services for IAI solutions.

From radars and defence systems for air, land, and sea to unmanned aerial systems and other intelligence solutions, including satellites and electronic surveillance, cyber and more, IAI has been jointly developing tailor-made, cutting-edge solutions for India’s unique challenges for three decades now.

It also manufactures the famous Heron TP armed drones which have been acquired by the Indian Army to boost its surveillance operations, especially near the LAC.

Focused on their common threat of international terrorism and the use of technology to get rid of it, India and Israel are already working together to produce next-generation drones.

With PM Modi keen on Israeli defence companies benefitting from opportunities of co-development and co-production in India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had exchanged a ‘Letter of Intent’ on enhancing cooperation in the field of Futuristic Defence Technologies with his visiting Israeli counterpart Benjamin Gantz in June this year.

It followed last November’s Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel’s Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) to jointly develop next-generation technologies and products such as drones, robotics, artificial intelligence and unhackable quantum computing.

Under the agreement, startups and industries of both countries will work together to bring out next-generation technologies and products in the areas such as drones, robotics, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, photonics, biosensing, brain-machine interface, energy storage, wearable devices, natural language processing, etc.

Products and technologies will also be customised to meet the unique requirements of both countries. The development efforts will be jointly funded by DRDO and DDR&D, Israel. The technologies developed under BIA will be available to both countries for their domestic applications.

Also Read: Tejas on mind, Argentine Armed Forces chief takes close look at HAL’s prowess

Ateet Sharma

Ateet Sharma reads the pulse of the geopolitical contests in Eurasia, and India’s outreach in the region and beyond.

Recent Posts

India-UK FTA will propel bilateral trade, strengthen supply chains: Jaishankar during meeting with UK Foreign Secretary

Noting that the recent conclusion of the India-UK FTA and the Double Contribution Convention is…

2 days ago

“Strengthening early warning systems, coordination is crucial”, says PM Modi addressing ICDRI

Highlighting the significance of strengthening early warning systems to mitigate risks from disasters, Prime Minister…

2 days ago

Centre raises financial threshold for procurement of scientific equipment, consumables

The Central government has raised financial limits under the General Financial Rules (GFRs) for procurement…

2 days ago

Would be my pleasure to welcome PM Modi for G7: Former Canada MP Chandra Arya calls India “indispensable partner”

Former Member of Parliament of Canada, Chandra Arya, has said it would be his pleasure…

2 days ago

UK Foreign Secretary Lammy to meet PM Modi; to discuss bilateral economic and migration partnership

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his second…

2 days ago

“We can control any situation”: Gujarat Health Minister calls Omicron ‘not serious’, says all arrangements in place

Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on Saturday noted that the state is fully prepared for…

2 days ago