Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. will provide the Indian Navy with hundreds of Barak-1 missiles over the next 18 months in a deal worth $143 million. India’s Ministry of Defense approved the procurement in recent days in part because naval commanders have warned of a grave shortage of such missiles in the Indian Navy’s inventory. The Barak-1 is an anti-missile defense system, and the Indian Navy is reportedly down to its last 150 such missiles.
The Indian government has decided to procure more than 260 Barak-1 missiles, which are manufactured by Rafael in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) and its Elta Industries division. IAI produces the command and control systems for the missile while Elta has developed the radar.
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There was a long period of discussions before the Indian government made its final decision about procuring the missiles due to enquiries into a bribery scandal involving defense manufacturers from other countries. Rafael and IAI were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and the Barak-1 missile deal was given the go-ahead.
The Barak-1 missile was developed in the 1990s and with a range of 9-10 kilometers serves as the main defense missile for the Israel Navy.
India is also a major partner of Israeli defense manufacturers in plans to develop a more advanced version of the Barak-1 missile the Barak-8. The agreement to develop the Barak-8 was signed four years ago and when development is complete, the Indian Navy will be equipped with hundreds of these innovative missiles in a deal worth $1.4 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com
