19 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

New joint ventures hint at ‘burgeoning relationship’ between Israel and India

By: Seth J. Frantzman

JERUSALEM — Israel and India are deepening defense industry ties as Israeli companies seek long-term partnerships through India's efforts to encourage products to be locally produced under joint ventures.

Earlier this month, Israel Aerospace Industries and India's Bharat Electronics Limited signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a new center for technical and maintenance support for India's air defense systems. In addition, IAI on Feb. 5 signed a strategic collaboration memorandum with Indian firms Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Dynamatic Technologies Limited to work on UAVs that will be made in India.

Sales have historically surpassed more than $1 billion annually, making India not only a core country for Israel's defense sales, but also strengthening the bilateral strategic partnership. IAI deals in 2017 included a $2.5 billion deal for Barak 8 missiles and $1.3 billion for surface-to-air missiles, with further deals in 2018, according to the company.

In the wake of the early February defense expo in Lucknow, India, IAI stressed that the Asian nation is one its main partners. “The important partnership is characterized by long-term collaboration, joint development and production, energy transfer, and technical support over many years,” according to Nimrod Sheffer, IAI's president and CEO.

The sentiment was echoed in interviews across Israel's major defense companies. Elbit Systems sees India is a strategic market, noting that it is “involved in a range of programs across the Indian defense sector.” Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said it has been doing business in India for more than two decades “supporting the Indian Armed forces with state-of-the-art systems.”

As part of bilateral relations, trade may be boosted to $20 billion in the coming decades from the $5 billion level at which it currently stands, according to the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. India has been a consumer of Israeli arms exports for several decades, accounting for 49 percent of Israeli arms exports from 2013 to 2017, according to one count at Israeli media outlet Calcalist. And India was Israel's largest purchaser of arms in 2017 alone, though purchases here decreased in 2018.

India is one of the core countries involved in the International Defense Cooperation Directorate under Israel's Ministry of Defense. Known by its acronym SIBAT, the directorate in the government's outreach arm to the defense industry. Of $7.5 billion in defense exports in 2018, 46 percent went to Asia, Globes reported. Israeli companies have not divulged what percent of that went to India, but it is considered to be substantial. Last year's trade numbers are still being calculated, according to Israel's MoD.

“My sense is that both India and Israel see this as a burgeoning relationship, not just arms trade," Jonathan Spyer, a research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told Defense News. "After Russia, Israel is India's second-largest source for defense [acquisition] — there is a strong sense of shared challenges in the area of terrorism.”

Spyer, who has taken part in recent policy discussions and roundtables about India-Israel relations in Tel Aviv and New Delhi, says India admires Israeli defense companies' speed and lack of bureaucracy that has helped their growth in the the markets of air defense and UAVs. However, as the Center for a New American Security think tank notes, “India's weapons procurement is complex and slow in no small part because of India's desire to indigenize production.”

‘The sky is the limit'

Still, the relationship between India and Israel is evolving. India's economic policy “Make in India” means that foreign companies wanting business in India must work alongside domestic companies and develop products locally. And Israeli companies have indeed partnered with Indian firms via joint ventures.

For instance Elbit established a joint venture with Adani Defence in Hyderbad for the production of Hermes drones in 2018. Adani Defence noted that the 50,000-square-foot facility is the first outside of Israel for manufacturing the Hermes 900 medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV. Another joint venture with Alpha Design Technologies was also launched with Elbit in recent years, and the Israeli firm also works with Bharat Electronics in the field of electronic warfare and electro-optics.

And IAI inked MOUs with three Indian companies this month. Bharat Electronics' marketing director said Feb. 5 that the collaboration would enhance its offerings and provide an immediate and optimized maintenance solution for air defense systems.

“The sky is the limit,” said Ze'ev Mivtzari, IAI's corporate vice president of marketing for India. “It's a big change from five years ago.” Mivtzari, a former Israeli defense attache to India, pointed to the strengthening of bilateral ties seen in recent years.

It's Israel's advanced technology that attracts India as it seeks to upgrade its armed forces. High-altitude and medium-altitude UAVs such as the Heron and multimission tactical Searcher could help India protect its border and sensitive sites.

The same is true for air defense systems. India has acquired the Israel-developed Barak missile line for its medium-range surface-to-air missile requirement. Working with India's Defence Research and Development Organisation, IAI hopes to increase sales of the missile by setting up production lines in India.

“If you want to work in India, you don't just sell products, you need to create your own ecosystem,” the Israeli firm said. It's that ecosystem that Israeli companies are targeting. The ecosystem for IAI now includes more than 100 local Indian companies with which it works.

Like IAI, Rafael's interaction with India goes back decades and involves the Asian nation's Army, Navy and Air Force. Rafael's ecosystem is in Hyderbad, where it's focusing on missiles, air defense systems, communications technology and electronic warfare capabilities.

“The common ground for all our programs, with the Army, Navy and Air Force, is modernization. Some of them are upgrades to existing equipment, some are procurement. The Indian market is big and will remain big,” Rafael has said. The company currently works with India on the SPYDER air defense system and Spike missiles, and it showcased its sea-based air defense system C-Dome, based on the Iron Dome, at a recent defense expo in Lucknow.

Rafael is also discussing its Drone Dome system, which protects against smaller drones. A recent test showed the system can use lasers to simultaneously stop multiple drones.

In the market of communications systems, Rafael seeks to increase sales of its BNET system is India, and it's also pushing its Typhoon remote controlled weapons system for naval platforms.

UVision, an Israeli company that makes loitering munitions, also signed a deal this month with India's Aditya Precitech to set up a joint venture to manufacture the PALM (precision attack loitering munition) Hero system. UVision's company in India is called AVision.

Pivot east

Israel's MoD characterizes the bilateral relationship as meaningful and involving “vast cooperation” between the two defense industries. The deepening defense and strategic relationship is part of India's multi-decade political and strategic shift, as it moves away from its former link to the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and improves ties with Israel and the United States. This complement's Israel's pivot eastward.

But there are differing security priorities between New Delhi and Jerusalem. India is more concerned about China, while Israel is wary of Iran. Though the bilateral relationship has still grown under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and their meetings in 2017 and 2018 that resulted in government-to-government agreements.

The ecosystem built by joint ventures between Israeli and Indian defense companies is complex and involves sensitive defense technology, know-how from which India hopes to acquire to lessen its dependence on foreign defense imports.

Spyer, the analyst out of Israel, said there is bipartisan consensus in both countries to advance the existing relationship. “It is a really important element of Israel's strategic stance and the broader pivot to Asia. No other burgeoning relationship, whether Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore or Japan, has the dimensions, depth and shared interests as India does for Israel.”

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/02/18/new-joint-ventures-hint-at-burgeoning-relationship-between-israel-and-india/

Sur le même sujet

  • En Europe, les industries de Défense se préparent à la hausse des commandes

    23 mars 2022 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    En Europe, les industries de Défense se préparent à la hausse des commandes

    DÉFENSE En Europe, les industries de Défense se préparent à la hausse des commandes De nombreux gouvernements européens ont annoncé de fortes augmentations de leurs budgets militaires, comme l'Allemagne (+ 100 Md€) et la Suède, qui passera ses dépenses de 1,3% à 2% du PIB et envisage une intégration dans l'OTAN, de même que la Finlande. En France, la Loi de programmation militaire (LPM) 2019-2025 prévoit de porter son effort de 40,9 Md€ cette année à 50 Md€ en 2025 (soit 2,5 % du PIB), à raison de 3 Md€ supplémentaires par an. Cette loi pourrait être suivie d'une programmation plus ambitieuse à partir de 2025, Emmanuel Macron ayant annoncé, le 2 mars, qu'il « amplifiera l'investissement dans la Défense ». La base industrielle et technologique de défense (BITD) française devrait connaître une forte augmentation des commandes, en particulier Dassault Aviation (Rafale), Airbus Defence and Space (avions de combat et de transport, drones), Thales (radars, sonars, cybersécurité...), Nexter (blindés et armement terrestre...), MBDA (missiles), Naval Group (frégates, sous-marins...) et les milliers de PME et d'ETI qui fournissent les armées. « Nous sommes aux côtés de la France qui poursuit un double effort, à la fois capacitaire et technologique, face à des menaces croissantes et de plus en plus complexes », explique Philippe Keryer, Directeur général adjoint Stratégie, Recherche et Technologie. Conserver les compétences et attirer des jeunes est « crucial », estime Pierre-Eric Pommellet, PDG de Naval Group, qui rappelle que « certains métiers sont en tension ». Pour la première fois, l'Union des industries et métiers de la métallurgie (UIMM) est présidée par un dirigeant du secteur, Eric Trappier, PDG de Dassault Aviation. Le Monde du 23 mars

  • RTX beats estimates on military demand, aviation strength

    23 avril 2024 | International, Terrestre

    RTX beats estimates on military demand, aviation strength

  • An ocean apart: Few naval vendors manage to pierce US and European protectionism

    15 janvier 2019 | International, Naval

    An ocean apart: Few naval vendors manage to pierce US and European protectionism

    By: Tom Kington , Andrew Chuter , and Sebastian Sprenger ROME, LONDON and COLOGNE, Germany — The U.S. and European shipbuilding industries lead largely separate lives against the backdrop of a massive Asian naval buildup, but some trans-Atlantic projects still manage to thrive. The building of warships has always been a prime example of nations nurturing a highly specialized industry deemed so crucial that outside economic forces cannot be allowed to intervene. And while some European nations have begun to think about pooling shipbuilding forces on the continent, analysts and industry executives in Europe say the wall separating the U.S. and European naval markets remains high. Barring missile launchers and the Aegis combat management system, U.S. firms have not grabbed a large slice of naval work in Europe, and no change is on the horizon, according to Peter Roberts, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “Warships are historically linked to national power, and if you stop building them you are no longer seen as a great power — you are at the bidding of others,” Roberts said. “The Spanish, the British, the French — they haven't given up shipbuilding, even if they were better off buying off the shelf, and we are unlikely to see a reduction of yards in Europe,” he added. At the same time, the U.S. market has been relatively closed off to European shipbuilders, though there is a chance that could change somewhat with the Navy's Future Frigate program. “It's a bit like two different planets,” said Sebastian Bruns, head of the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University in northern Germany. The reflex to buy only American-made warships is especially strong in the current political climate, he added. The sheer number of ships needed on each side of the Atlantic creates a natural differentiator, according to Bruns, who spent time working U.S. naval policy as a House staffer on Capitol Hill. He said the Navy tends to prefer no-frills designs made for maximum war-fighting power in a great powers competition, while Europeans have taken to building vessels with a kind of peace-maintenance role in mind, affording a greater level of automation and comfort for the crew, for example. One British naval executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the lack of trans-Atlantic industrial touch points wasn't limited to market access, arguing that cost-effectiveness was also an issue. “Despite the problems we have and the programs that don't go exactly according to plan ton for ton and capability for capability, the U.K. manages to build and deliver surface ships at a much lower cost than the United States,” he said. “The U.S. shipyards know they would have difficulty competing in the region, particularly if you are talking about yards that have built a good track record. Naval Group, Fincantieri, Damen Shipyards, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems — these are yards that have been competitive and build with export experience behind them. They are already ahead of the game and I do think it comes back to the cost base, I think it is difficult for the United States to build as cost-effectively as the Europeans,” the executive argued. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/01/14/an-ocean-apart-few-naval-vendors-manage-to-pierce-us-and-european-protectionism

Toutes les nouvelles