UPA Govt signs Rs 10,000 cr israel missile deal on the sly

The Centre has signed a Rs 10,000-crore deal with Israel for missiles, overruling objections from the Left and just as the country is heading into elections. The deal was cleared after defence minister A.K. Antony overcame his hesitation because of a CBI probe. The contract was approved by the cabinet committee on security in July 2007 but was practically shelved by Antony after he learnt of the CBI probe and questions raised by the Central Vigilance Commission on other projects involving Israeli firms Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) that have supplied the Barak ship missile defence systems to the Indian Navy.



Former defence minister George Fernandes and former navy chief Admiral Sushil Kumar are named in connection with the probe into the first Barak deal being investigated by the CBI. The companies (IAI and Rafael) have got orders despite being single vendors in violation of guidelines that ask for defence procurements to be made through global competition rules. The government cannot claim to have executed a contract with Rafael and the IAI in ignorance or by mistake because of three reasons: First, the CBI and the vigilance commission were probing and had asked questions leading the defence minister to practically freeze the projects. Second, at the same time, the government’s own Defence Research and Development Organisation accelerated its low-level quick reaction anti-missile Akash ballistic missile defence system to be developed apace.



The DRDO claims Akash is now operational and ready for induction into the forces. The acquisition of the Israeli system will practically kill the indigenous programme Third, in March, — and this makes it a political hot potato in the run-up to the polls — the Left had written two letters — one to the Prime Minister and another to the defence minister — asking for investigations into defence deals with Israel and demanding scrapping of the LLQRM (low-level quick reaction missile) deal that threatened to be executed at the cost of the indigenous programme (reported by The Telegraph on March 19). Investigators suspect that the contract — signed in March — was brokered by a cabal of former military officers with connections in the bureaucracy. But Israel is so deeply involved in military supplies to India that the defence establishment is apprehensive that blacklisting Israeli companies in one sector will have adverse spin-offs in other areas.

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