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“Make in India” Policy will Force Israel to be More Flexible

Dec 4, 2016

A Hunter Joint Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in flight during a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) training exercise at Fallon Naval Air Station (NAS), Nevada (NV), during exercise DESERT RESCUE XI. The Hunter is an Israeli multi-role short-range UAV system in service with the US Army (USA). The exercise is a joint service Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) training exercise hosted by the Naval Strike and Warfare Center, designed to simulate downed aircrews, enabling CSAR related missions to experiment with new techniques in realistic scenarios.

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By ARIE EGOZI

India, unlike Israel, takes care of its defence industries.

The Indian government’s “Make in India” policy will force the Israeli government to ease some of the restrictions that are applied to the export of sensitive defence technology.

The Israeli defence industries cannot meet the Indian demands fully. Sources in the Israeli aerospace and defence industries say that while India has been a big potential market for Israeli developed systems, future contracts will depend on the Israeli approval of including technology transfers and local production in India.

In recent years, some of the Israeli companies have signed joint ventures in India, but according to the sources this is not enough under the current policy.

Negotiations about delivering advanced Israeli systems like airborne radars , EW systems for future aircraft of the Indian air force are underway, but all the signs are that in order to conclude a deal Israel will have to agree to the Make in India policy.

The problem is that there is no Israeli policy regarding the Israel defence industries. Without it each potential tender is evaluated and the results depend on the leverage the involved industry has on the government.

“This situation is very bad for the Israeli industry and if nothing is changed it will become more complicated to sign new contracts in India”, a source related to the issue told i-HLS.

The situation has become more complicated since the U.S and many European countries have decided to achieve bigger chunks of the large Indian defence budgets.