Defence technologies

Israel is willing to cooperation with the Indian in defence sector and is committed for ‘Make in India and Make with India’ in security domain, a market of US$250 billion over the next 10-15 years.

“We are willing to cooperate with India and transfer technologies through partnership with Indian companies. SIBAT (the International Defense Cooperation Directorate) and Defence Ministry are committed for long term relationship with India,” said Brig. Gen. (Retd) Mishel Ben-Baruch, Director, SIBAT, Ministry of Defence.

Brig. Gen. Ben-Baruch underlined three core competencies of Israel to cope up with neighbours; spirit of people to be united, technological solutions to the problems and friendly countries like India, which also face same cross-border threats from un-friendly neighbourhood, just like Israel.

Brig. Gen. Ben-Baruch held a follow up meeting in New Delhi on November 18 in a follow up to calls by President Reuven Rivlin who visited India this week.

He was speaking at the “Roundtable on Indo-Israel Cooperation in Defence & Homeland Security”, organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The Indian defence sector will create US$250 billion business opportunities in the next 10-15 years, according to Cmde. Sujeet Samaddar, NM (Retd), Hony. Advisor – Defence & Aerospace, FICCI.

These opportunities will cover UAV technologies, cyber security, counter terror and border management are the key areas of cooperation in homeland security, he added.

Shambhu S Kumaran, Joint Secretary (Planning & International Cooperation), in the Indian Defence Ministry, has also emphasised on the great degree of trust between the two countries.

He highlighted growing concerns of cyber threats, which is one of the areas where India and Israel could collaborate.

Security trade has a lot of complex legal issues and have trade restrictions; hence there is a need for greater engagement and collaboration by jointly leveraging markets which could not be accessed individually, said Kumaran.

“In India, defence production is set to shift from public sector to private companies. An offset programme of the country is also taking shape with a target of US$10 billion in next 5 years,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, FICCI is working towards the policy of public procurement in security to ensure transparency and standardization, assured Rajan Luthra, Co-Chair, FICCI Committee on Homeland Security. fii-news.com