India, Israel Form Sub Working Group To Promote Co-Development, Co-Production Of High-Tech Weapon Systems

In a bid to further strengthen bilateral defence partnership between India and Israel, the two nations have formed a new sub working group (SWG) to promote co-development and co-production of high tech weapon systems, reports Times of India.

The announcement of the creation of the SWG was done during a webinar between India and Israel on Thursday (24 September).

Th SWG to promote joint projects, under the overarching joint working group on defence cooperation headed by the Indian Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and his Israeli counterpart, will explore defence industrial cooperation with focus on areas like transfer of technology, technology security, artificial intelligence, innovation and joint export to third nations.

The SWG will be headed by Sanjay Jaju, joint secretary (defence industries production) in the Indian defence ministry and Eyal Calif, director Asia & Pacific from the Israeli one.

The creation of the SWG between the two nations comes at a time when India is inducting Barak-8 surface-to-air missile systems under three joint DRDO-IAI projects worth over Rs 30,000 crore.

It should be noted that Israel has been among one of the top four arms suppliers to Indian armed forces, with annual sales worth over a billion dollars.