Note: The over-land route would also enable Israel to take out 2 underground processing facilities.
Posted on 11/07/2009 9:39:54 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
India deepens defense ties with Israel to tackle threat of terror
By YAAKOV KATZ
Amid Israeli efforts to bolster military ties and export military hardware, the Indian Chief of Staff Gen. Deepak Kapoor arrived in Israel on Saturday for talks with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.
Kapoor will hold talks with Ashkenazi as well as other senior Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He will visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem during his four-day visit, as well as the IDF's Southern Command.
Israel and India enjoy close defense ties and Israel last year overtook Russia as the number-one supplier of military platforms to India after breaking the $1 billion mark in new contracts signed annually.
According to press reports, India is interested in working with Israel on submarine-launched cruise missiles, ballistic missile defense systems, laser-guided systems, satellites as well as unmanned aerial vehicles.
The visit to Israel comes just before the first anniversary of the attacks last November in Mumbai against a hotel as well as a Chabad House, during which over 170 people were killed, including the Chabad emissary to Mumbai and his pregnant wife.
Since the attack, Israel has assisted India in beefing up its security, particularly along its coast, where the terrorists allegedly infiltrated from nearby Pakistan.
Last Tuesday, Kapoor was quoted as saying that South Asia was infested with terror groups and there was a possibility that attacks of the sort that happened at Mumbai could happen again.
"We have to take all steps to prevent any Mumbai-type attacks. We cannot rule out apprehensions of such possibilities," Kapoor was quoted as saying by news sites.
"India cannot afford to witness a repeat of 26/11. May I therefore recommend that the nation needs to forge ahead towards acquiring a nationwide architecture for facilitating speedy flow of intelligence, an updated database for providing decision support based on geographical information system and a network of quick execution of plans by the nearest suitable security agency."
/mark
The US has a bunch of old M1A’s and M-60 tanks that we could sell to India.
Interesting - certainly Israel needs to loose Turkey as an arms client
India gets it. Saddly our present leaders do not.
Note: The over-land route would also enable Israel to take out 2 underground processing facilities.
The problem is keeping a massive deployment of ~100 Israeli F-15s and F-16s, along with six or seven KC-707s to Indian air bases a secret.
At least one country understands the growing threats in the Middle East and world.
Wow. What a generous thought! “Sell” India some old junk while giving pakistan latest F-16s for “free”. You totally seem to have got it right.
That is only for starters. I would allow a plant that would make current M1A2 Abrams, and would upgrade the old weapons to modern standards. Also, I would sell India F-22’s, Apachie gunships, and as we retire them, old Nimitz class carriers.
Israel and India enjoy close defense ties and Israel last year overtook Russia as the number-one supplier of military platforms to India after breaking the $1 billion mark in new contracts signed annually. According to press reports, India is interested in working with Israel on submarine-launched cruise missiles, ballistic missile defense systems, laser-guided systems, satellites as well as unmanned aerial vehicles.
Does anyone have any other ideas as to what India might be able to do to help Israel?
My security concept is one in which Israel gradually replaces the U.S. with India for its regional military support alliance. Obama may well be around another 7 years, and Israel cannot afford to waste a day trying to please the first Israel-hostile administration in U.S. history. In addition, the once strong Israel-Turkish axis is sadly no more, and a new power is needed to replace it. India is a far greater power.
Iran is the immediate threat, and as India would be sandwiched by two Islamfascist nuclear powers if Iran obtains nukes, I do not think Israel would have to do much convincing to get New Delhi to provide substantial material, logistics and intelligence support to an Israeli-led operation. It is also about time india flexed its own military muscles in the region. A joint Israel-India strike on Iran would represent a total overthrow of the old security order in the Persian Gulf theatre.
Just for starters, an alternative main ally to the Obamanation. It’s a big, prosperous nation in the area, occasionally visited by terrorists itself, and without the PC morons that are presently in charge of the US.
Hardly an "alternative." There's no comparison between what India is capable of offering in terms of military hardware, technology, and intelligence and what the US is capable of, even in the age of Obama. (This is not to suggest that Israel shouldn't be looking for whatever allies and assistance may be available - without knuckling under to the Obamatons' arm-twisting on "peace" with the Palis.)
[India] is a big, prosperous nation...
It's big, yes, but I wouldn't call it prosperous. It's been making strides economically, but its per capita GDP is only a small fraction of that of Israel, the US, and western European countries.
I’ll settle for India, although, as you say, it’s a poor substitute for the power and wealth of the US. The US, at present, is less an ally than a bully who demands you give your lunch money to another kid, and says, “if you don’t do this, we won’t be pals anymore.” At least in the case of India, there’s mutual respect, a common enemy, and an alternative to this bad relationship. We won the 6-day war when our main ally was—gasp!—France. The US back then supported Jordan.
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