Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the head of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved a deal to jointly develop a medium-range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) system for Army with the help of Israel.
The deal will be executed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).
Highlights of this deal:
- Five regiments of the MR-SAM system are being instituted under this deal, which consists of 40 units and 200 missiles.
- It has a range of 50-70 km.
- The system will be based on the older Barak system of Israel, which is in use in India.
- It will be manufactured in India and will have an 80% indigenous content.
- Under this deal, the DRDO will play a crucial role in developing the target homing system.
- Deliveries of the system will begin in 2023.
- The MR-SAM system will be the latest in a series of other variants of SAM systems used by the Navy and the Air Force which is jointly developed by India and Israel.
- The deal is signed amounting to a sum of ₹17,000 crore.
2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and the approval for this deal comes ahead of a possible visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel later this year.
