India Chooses Israel Over US for $525M Missile Deal, Sources Say
Oct. 26, 2014 - 11:47AM | By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141026/DEFREG03/310260009/India-Chooses-Israel-Over-US-525M-Missile-Deal-Sources-Say

NEW DELHI — India has chosen to buy anti-tank guided missiles from Israel,
rejecting a rival US offer, as the right-wing government clears projects
worth $13.1 billion to modernize its aging military, official sources said
Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will buy 8,356 Spike missiles and
321 launchers from Israel in a deal worth 32 billion rupees ($525 million),
defence ministry sources told AFP.

The government is moving to speed up long-delayed defense orders and bolster
its military. The Israeli deal comes after recent firing along India’s
border with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan and tensions with giant neighbor
China.

The procurement deals, worth 800 billion rupees ($13.1 billion) in total,
were cleared at a meeting of India’s Defence Acquisition Council, headed by
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, on Saturday.

“It (the council) has cleared a deal for Spikes,” a defence ministry
official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

“It’s a fire and forget kind of missile,” the official said, referring to
the fact the missile locks onto targets before firing.

“You can say there was a rival bid from the US for its Javelin missiles,”
the official said, adding that India’s army trialled the Spike missiles
“successfully last year”.

India, the world’s biggest arms importer, is in the midst of a $100-billion
defense upgrade program and cleared proposals worth nearly $3.5 billion in
June.

Nationalist leader Modi, who stormed to power at elections in May, has said
India must build up its military might to the point that no other country
“dare cast an evil eye” on the South Asian nation.

A series of corruption scandals under the previous government had brought
defense procurement to a near standstill.

Modi and US President Barack Obama agreed on greater defense cooperation
during a meeting in Washington last month, when the US reportedly lobbied
for its Javelin missiles.

“The DAC (Defence Acquisition Council) took the decision based on purely
technical reasons and based on hard facts. It had been on the agenda for
some time,” another unnamed defense ministry official told AFP.

“The process of bringing them (equipment) here will be done over a period of
time, in stages,” he added without giving details.

The council also agreed to go ahead with locally building six submarines, in
collaboration with a foreign partner, in a project worth $8.2 billion,
according to local media reports on Sunday.

French, Russian, German and Spanish firms are interested in partnering with
India for the project, according to the Hindustan Times.

The government has raised the foreign investment cap on India’s defense
industries to speed up the military’s modernization.

Twelve Dornier aircraft will also be bought for the navy and 362 infantry
combat vehicles, the local reports said.

Indian soldiers were this month embroiled in days of deadly tit-for-tat
firing along the border with Pakistan, while tensions were also hiked at a
remote border frontier in September during a stand off with Chinese troops.