DRDO inks bilateral agreement with Israel for development of dual-use defence technology

On Tuesday, the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel's Ministry of Defense's Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) have inked a Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) in a bid to promote innovation and accelerated R&D in startups and MSMEs in both countries for the development of dual-use technologies. The deal was inked between Chairman of DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy and Head of DDR&D, Israel BG (Retd) Dr Daniel Gold, stated a press release by the Ministry of Defence.  

Under the terms of the agreement, both countries' startups and industries will collaborate to develop next-generation technology and products in several fields. These include Robotics, Drones, Quantum technology,  Artificial Intelligence, Biosensing, Brain-Machine Interface, Photonics, Energy Storage, Natural Language Processing, Wearable Devices, etc. According to the ministry's release, products and technologies will be tailored to satisfy the pertaining needs of both countries. The development activities will be supported jointly by the DRDO and Israel's DDR&D. Besides, both countries will be permitted to use the technologies developed under BIA for domestic purposes.

India-Israel agree to form task force to develop a 10-year strategy

Meanwhile, on October 29, the Ministry of Defence stated that India and Israel have agreed to form a task force to develop a 10-year strategy for exploring new areas of cooperation. The India-Israel Joint Working Group (JWG) on Bilateral Defense Cooperation held its 15th meeting on October 27 in Tel Aviv. The conference was co-chaired by Dr Ajay Kumar, the Defence Secretary, and Major General (Retired) Amir Eshel, the Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Defense.

It is significant to mention here that with annual military supplies worth around $1 billion, Israel has been one of India's top four arms suppliers for nearly two decades, along with the US, Russia, and France. The Indian military forces are now receiving the next-generation Barak-8 surface-to-air missile systems as part of three joint DRDO-Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) contracts for over Rs 30,000 crore. The Joint Working Group (JWG) is the top committee between India's Ministry of Defence and Israel's Ministry of Defense, tasked with reviewing and guiding all aspects of bilateral defence cooperation. India has previously purchased a range of Israeli weapon systems such as the Phalcon AWACS, Heron, Searcher-II, and Harop drones, as well as Barak anti-missile defence systems and Spyder quick-reaction anti-aircraft missile systems. 

(With ANI inputs)

Image: Twitter/@DRDO