Army Chief Naravane Heads to Israel to Boost Defence Ties

Army chief Naravane’s visit comes weeks after the India-Israel joint working group on defence cooperation decided to set up a task force to put together a comprehensive 10-year roadmap to identify new areas of collaboration.

Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Sunday left for Israel on a five-day official visit to discuss avenues for enhancing bilateral defence relations. His visit comes weeks after the India-Israel joint working group (JWG) on defence cooperation decided to set up a task force to put together a comprehensive 10-year roadmap to identify new areas of collaboration.

“The army chief will take forward the excellent bilateral defence cooperation between Israel and India through multiple meetings with senior officials of the (Israeli) security establishment and exchange views on various defence related issues,” the army said in a statement. This is Naravane’s first visit to Israel.

The army chief’s Israel visit comes after external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited that country last month.

Israel has been among India’s top three arms suppliers for the last five years, according to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in March 2021. Israel accounted for 13% of India’s imports during 2016-20 after Russia (49%) and France (18%).

The decision to form the task force to identify new areas of cooperation for the next decade was taken during the 15th JWG meeting co-chaired by defence secretary Ajay Kumar and his Israeli counterpart Major General Gen Amir Eshel (retd) in October-end.

India and Israel also agreed to form a sub-working group on defence industry cooperation for efficient utilisation of resources, effective flow of technologies and sharing industrial capabilities.

The ongoing border conflict with China in Ladakh forced India last year to speed up the purchase of military hardware from several countries including Israel, officials said.

India is sourcing from Israel the Firefly loitering ammunition, Spike anti-tank guided missiles, Spice guidance kits that can mounted on standard bombs to convert them into smart weapons and an operational surface-to-air missile system.

Source: WION