Jerusalem, Jan 18: India will buy Israel’s Spike Anti-tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday told Israeli media, adding that the scrapped USD 500 million lucrative defence deal was back on track. “India will buy Israel’s anti-tank spike missiles,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying by Jerusalem Post. However, there is no such announcement New Delhi.
India cancelled the USD 500 million defence deal a few weeks ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the country. However, the Israeli Prime Minister, after spending the day with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, said the deal will be renewed. The renewal is considered to be a “major strategic achievement”, the Israeli newspaper reported.
Another leading Israeli daily ‘Haaretz’ also reported that the scrapped defence deal is “back on the table”. Quoting Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben- Shabbat, the paper said that current talks are trending in a positive direction, and more details will be disclosed later.
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India had planned to acquire the ATGMs for the Indian Army at a cost of USD 500 million from an Israeli firm Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd. However, the company had earlier this month confirmed that India cancelled the deal and expressed “regret” over the decision. The company had recently inaugurated its facilities in Hyderabad where the project was to be executed.
The Indian defence ministry has been strongly pushing for the transfer of technology in procuring various weapons and other platforms from foreign defence majors as part of its broad policy initiative to encourage domestic defence industry, reported news agency PTI.
Official sources in New Delhi had earlier indicated that the proposal to acquire the missile system faced hurdles when Israeli side apparently expressed reservations in ensuring full transfer of technology as per the provisions of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, it added.