Defence and security cooperation: India and Israel

India is Israel's single largest defence customer. Between 2020 and 2024, 34 per cent of all Israeli arms exports by value went to India, totalling approximately USD 20.5 billion in disclosed deals. The relationship is structurally distinct from Israel's defence ties with most other partners: it is dominated by complex platforms (radars, missiles, air-defence systems, drones) rather than small arms, and has shifted increasingly toward co-development and co-production in India rather than off-the-shelf purchases.

This piece sets out the institutional frame, the major industrial partnerships, the principal platforms, and the new architecture established in late 2025 and early 2026.

Institutional frame

India and Israel run a Joint Working Group on Defence, which meets annually. The 2025 meeting in Tel Aviv on 4 November signed a Memorandum of Understanding on defence cooperation framed around three pillars: research and development, defence industry collaboration, and procurement.

The November 2025 MoU was the operational basis for elevating the bilateral relationship to a Special Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Modi's visit to Jerusalem on 25 to 26 February 2026. The joint statement from the visit confirmed a roadmap for technology-intensive co-development and co-production rather than continued reliance on import contracts.

Defence cooperation runs in parallel to a strategic intelligence relationship between the Indian and Israeli national security establishments, which is acknowledged in general terms but rarely detailed in public.

Industrial partnerships

Four major Israeli defence firms run substantial Indian industrial partnerships as of mid-2026:

Rafael Advanced Defence Systems runs a joint venture with the Kalyani Group (Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems, KRAS) for missile production and related systems. Rafael also has industrial cooperation arrangements with Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for the Ice Breaker air-to-surface missile, and an equity investment in Centum Electronics (Bengaluru) for electronic warfare systems. Rafael's products in India include the SPYDER air-defence system, the Spike anti-tank missile family, and the Litening targeting pod.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is the largest Israeli defence presence in India by revenue. Its partnerships include long-running cooperation with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T). IAI products in Indian service include the Barak family of naval air-defence missiles, the Phalcon airborne early-warning system, the Heron family of unmanned aerial vehicles, and the LORA family of ballistic missiles.

Elbit Systems runs partnerships including a joint venture with Adani Defence and Aerospace (Adani Elbit Advanced Systems India, focused on UAVs) and works with multiple Indian partners on EO/IR sensors, targeting pods, and the Hermes UAV family. Elbit's Rampage air-to-ground missile is being inducted into Indian Air Force service.

The Arrow consortium (Israel Aerospace Industries with US partners) provides the upper layer of Israel's missile defence. India is reported to be evaluating Arrow components as part of Mission Sudarshan Chakra (see below).

Principal platforms

The Indian armed forces operate a wide range of Israeli or jointly-developed systems. The most significant categories:

Air defence. The SPYDER short-range air-defence system; the Barak-8 and Barak-MX medium-range air-defence systems (jointly developed by IAI and DRDO); the SPYDER and MR-SAM lines for Indian Air Force and Army formations; ongoing acquisition of additional missile-defence components under Mission Sudarshan Chakra.

Precision strike. The SPICE 1000 precision-guidance kits (used by the Indian Air Force on Mirage-2000 and Su-30MKI strikes including Operation Sindoor in May 2025); the Rampage air-to-ground missile; the AIR LORA air-launched ballistic missile (approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in December 2025); the Ice Breaker naval cruise missile with BDL as Indian industrial partner.

Sensors and intelligence. The Phalcon airborne early-warning system; the Litening targeting pod; the Heron UAV family (with ongoing Heron MK-II inductions); satellite-imagery cooperation including the TecSAR satellite that ISRO launched for Israel in January 2008 and subsequent reconnaissance platforms.

Drone and counter-drone. The Heron, Searcher, and Harpy/Harop loitering munitions; Rafael's Drone Dome counter-UAS system.

The numbers

The most reliable public source on the size of the relationship is the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) arms transfers database, which is supplemented by official Israeli Ministry of Defence disclosures.

Headline figures as of mid-2026:

• India's share of Israeli arms exports, 2020 to 2024: approximately 34 per cent.
• Cumulative disclosed Israeli arms transfers to India, 2020 to 2024: approximately USD 20.5 billion.
• Expected value of agreements during PM Modi's February 2026 visit to Israel: USD 8 to 10 billion.
• Defence Acquisition Council approvals for Israeli systems, December 2025: a multi-billion-dollar package covering SPICE-1000, Rampage, AIR LORA and Ice Breaker.

The numbers do not include the value of co-production output or the share of indigenous Indian production that uses Israeli technology under licence, both of which are substantial and growing.

Mission Sudarshan Chakra

Prime Minister Modi announced Mission Sudarshan Chakra in his 15 August 2025 Independence Day address: a national programme to build a multi-layered air-defence, ballistic-missile-defence and aerial-offensive capability by 2035, framed around the formula "shield and sword".

Mission Sudarshan Chakra is the operational driver behind much of the 2025-26 procurement and co-production activity with Israel. It draws on the architectural lessons of Israel's multi-layered system (Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow) without committing to a specific Israeli system at each layer. Some layers will be filled by indigenous Indian programmes (notably BMD by DRDO), others by Israeli systems, and some by joint ventures already in place.

Points of friction

The relationship is overwhelmingly transactional and forward-leaning, but a small number of friction points are worth flagging:

Public framing of India's Palestinian position. Indian government statements have consistently distinguished between deepening the India-Israel bilateral and India's separate continued support for a two-state outcome. The framing is sometimes contested by Indian commentators on both sides of the question.

Domestic political contestation. Defence procurement scale on the Israel relationship is high enough to attract political scrutiny in both countries. In India, opposition parties have at times raised questions about specific procurement decisions. In Israel, no equivalent public contestation exists, but defence-industry concentration around Indian sales has been flagged by analysts.

Export-control coordination. Israeli defence exports to third countries that use components produced in India, or vice versa, require coordination between the two governments under standard end-use frameworks. This is operationally significant but rarely publicly visible.

In one paragraph

India is Israel's largest defence customer, with 34 per cent of Israeli arms exports between 2020 and 2024 going to India, worth approximately USD 20.5 billion. The relationship runs through four major Israeli firms (Rafael, IAI, Elbit, Arrow consortium) with substantial Indian industrial partners (Kalyani, HAL, BEL, L&T, BDL, Adani, Centum). Indian armed forces operate a wide range of Israeli systems across air defence, precision strike, sensors and drones. A November 2025 MoU and the February 2026 Modi visit have moved the relationship from off-the-shelf purchases toward co-development and co-production, with an expected USD 8 to 10 billion of agreements and a roadmap anchored on Mission Sudarshan Chakra.

---

Sources

[1]: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database 2025 update, with Indian share computed from disclosed deal values. https://www.sipri.org/databases/armstransfers

[2]: "India and Israel sign MoU to boost defence cooperation and technology sharing." DD News (November 2025). https://ddnews.gov.in/en/india-israel-sign-mou-to-boost-defence-cooperation-and-technology-sharing/

[3]: "India and Israeli boost defence cooperation with new MoU." Army-Technology (November 2025). https://www.army-technology.com/news/israel-india-defence-mou/

[4]: "India-Israel Special Strategic Partnership 2026: Key Agreements." SPM IAS Academy. https://spmiasacademy.com/currentaffairs/india-israel-special-strategic-partnership/

[5]: "Mission Sudarshan Chakra and the India-Israel Special Strategic Partnership." Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). https://idsa.in/publisher/issuebrief/mission-sudarshan-chakra-and-the-india-israel-special-strategic-partnership

[6]: "Israel and India Strengthen Defense Ties." Foundation for Defense of Democracies (November 2025). https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/11/13/israel-and-india-strengthen-defense-ties/

[7]: "Israel-India defense boost: Major deals mark a turning point in strategic relations." Jerusalem Post (February 2026). https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-887915

[8]: "India expected to sign lucrative deal with Israel, improve air defenses." Jerusalem Post (February 2026). https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-887975

[9]: Israeli Ministry of Defence and Israel Innovation Authority defence-export annual report, latest edition. https://www.gov.il/

[10]: "Mission Sudarshan Chakra: India's 'Shield and Sword' by 2035." Prime Minister's Office, Independence Day address transcripts (August 2025). https://www.pmindia.gov.in/

[11]: "Counter-Terror And High-Tech Warfare Drive Upgraded India-Israel Security Ties." Defence Star (February 2026). https://www.defencestar.in/diplomacy-news/india-israel-defence-cooperation-pm-modi-benjamin-netanyahu/10919/

[12]: India's positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Indian Ministry of External Affairs statements 2023 to 2025. https://www.mea.gov.in/