Israel India | Business Guide | 2017

066 > Cyber, Defense & HLS > Cooperation between the two countries Israel-India > Business Guide > 2017 CII Takes Major 42-member Defense Delegation to SIBAT, Israel The 42-member delegation was the biggest delegation hosted by SIBAT so far from India and CII was well appreciated for the same. The Delegation had a fair balance of small, medium and large companies.Themissionwas led byMr.Rajinder Singh Bhatia, President & CEO,Bharat Forge Ltd.while Mr Jayantaraj Chatterjee, CEO, Mahindra Telephonics was the Mission Co-Leader.  The Israeli industry was overwhelmedwith the large contingent of Indian defense industry delegation.More than 100 Israeli companies participated in the seminar leading to over 200 business-to-business meetings besides meetings with senior officials of Israeli Ministry of Defense and SIBAT. The companies utilized the opportunity to learn about each other and explore areas of cooperation. missile defense sector whereas in programs like the MRSAM, LRSAM, Anti-tank Missiles (ATGM).AESA radars of Elta,an IAI Company,for Jaguar andTejas aircraft will bemanufactured in India; Indian warships are fitted with Elta radar as their primary search and tracking radar that is integrated with Barak and other missile systems being jointly upgraded by Israel and India. IAI’s Green Pine Radar, their most sophisticated and largest,is themainstay of our missile defense system. In the space sector,Israel Space Agency (ISA) and ISRO have had a long standing strategic relationship wherein ISRO has launched their satellite and their synthetic aperture radar is on board their own imaging satellites. India’s relations with Israel,more so its defense cooperation with the nation, are now out in the open. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has publicly acknowledged the importance of India-Israel relaitons, specially in security. Our President Mr.Pranab Mukherjee,during the recent visit of Israeli President Mr.Reuven Rivlin, acknowledged that Israel had always helped India at crucial times;reference was to the Kargil operations in 1999,as well as during the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. This relationship is going to grow further with the impending visit of PrimeMinisterModi to Israel. The 42-member delegation from India with officials from SIBAT Israel can get increasingly involved in Make in India Program In the last two years,the Defense Sector has evinced interest with industry in India.While Indian industry has steadily moved towards capacity building, foreign OEMs also have shown great enthusiasm to participate in ‘Make in India’in Defense.Ministry of Defense too has taken path breaking policy initiatives in all domains. Several long pending and critical changes have been made to bring in ease of doing business in Defense procurements. Whether it is relaxation of norms for FDI in Defense or the new Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP 2016), Government of India has the paved theway for creation of robust defense manufacturing in the country. With due focus on higher levels of indigenization, opportunities in the defense sector are immense, especially for Indian companies. India has realized that 'buyer-seller defense agreements with conditional licensed production relationship' with partner countries is not conducive for long term goals and aspiration. Hence, we are now exploring co-production and co-development opportunities with foreign OEMs.India aims to leverage its buying power. The country offers an opportunity to global OEMs to partner with Indian industry and leverage domestic as well as the global market with strategic and state-of-the-art modern warfare platforms and equipment. Israel is known around the world for its pioneering, operationally-proven defense systems that are developed by its defense industries, and implemented all around the globe. These innovative systems are developed in order to provide effective and advanced capabilities to meet all threats. SIBAT, the Israel MOD International Defense Cooperation Directorate, is uniquely positioned as an essential division within the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD),while having a close,ongoing relationshipwith the defense industry.This combination ensures that SIBAT maintain in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of the defense world’s relevant concepts,as well as a clear understanding of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) operational needs. CII leads Major Delegation to Israel In order to make significant progress towards greater indigenization, progress towards self-reliance and facilitation of meaningful partnership between foreign OEMs and Indian industry, CII, in association with SIBAT, took a delegation of Indian Defense companies to Israel from 6-11 November 2016 with an aim of exploring business opportunities with Israel’s defense industry. Contributed by Confederation of Indian Industry Litening is a combat-proven multi-spectral airborne targeting pod. Photo: Rafael SPYDER Short/Medium Range Mobile Air Defense Systems. Photo: Rafael