India picks Israel's Spike anti-tank missile over U.S. Javelin - source

Reuters ^ | Oct 25, 2014 | NIGAM PRUSTY

[sukhoi-30mki]

(Reuters) - India has opted to buy Israel's Spike anti-tank guided missile, a defence ministry source said on Saturday, rejecting a rival U.S. offer of Javelin missiles that Washington had lobbied hard to win.

India will buy at least 8,000 Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers in a deal worth 32 billion rupees ($525 million), the source said after a meeting of India's Defence Acquisition Council.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's five-month-old government wants to clear a backlog of defence orders and boost India's firepower, amid recent border tensions with China and heavy exchanges of fire with Pakistan across the Kashmiri frontier.

"National security is the paramount concern of the government," the source quoted Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, who also holds the finance portfolio, as telling the procurement panel.

"All hurdles and bottlenecks in the procurement process should be addressed expeditiously so that the pace of acquisition is not stymied."

Among other business cleared by the panel, India will issue a request for proposals to supply six submarines, added the source, who was not authorised to comment on the record and did not elaborate.

Spike is a man-portable 'fire and forget' anti-tank missile that locks on to targets before shooting. It is produced by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, which declined to comment.

[sukhoi-30mki]

[bert]

The American Missiles are $500,00 each.

The Israeli Missiles are only $499,999 on sale

[Diogenesis]

Apparently, no sentient free nation can trust the USA
under the First Moslem Impostor by Pelosi’s Fraud.

[Neidermeyer]

Javelin $78,000 each (plus launchers , cost unknown)
Spike $56,000 each , 300 launchers included in deal.

I’d go IDI myself ,,probably easier to use and simpler to maintain.

[dc27]

Good point. President Obola shut off all resupply to Israel in the last campaign to stamp out Hamas. India could find itself in the same situation, if it decided to take out the trash in Pakistan.

[SkyDancer]

Good.

[caltaxed]

Cutting off arms to Israel during the height of war was an action that will hamper new arms sales for years to come.

We are a Banana Republic with horribly tainted leadership. Ethical countries will not enter into partnerships with us.

[Gaffer]

I’d go IDI myself ,,probably easier to use and simpler to maintain.

If it was me, I'd say no one in their right mind would trust a promise of maintenance and resupply from Obama's government, especially one that isn't Muslim.

[Gaffer]

All these foreign arms sales are governed by two agencies. First the DoD evaluates and reports, then it is up to the STATE DEPARTMENT - Obama’s butt boys/girls

[jennychase]

India will not depend on one country. During Kargil war with Pakistan, US put all type of hurdles.

[yldstrk]

I wouldn’t trust the frickin US under this “administration”, the Indians are smarter than that

[faithhopecharity]

Simple. No sane country can possibly trust America anymore - and they all know it (especially since the islamoNazi- in- Chief actually had the audacity to cut off the IDF ‘s ammo, etc right while they were defending themselves against some of his islamoNazi comrades - that he paid for !). Countries will buy their arms anywhere else they can now ( and Israel’s technology is at the head of the pack anyway ).

[PapaBear3625]

The Israeli missiles, most importantly, are FAR less likely to be subject to embargo if India gets into a war with Pakistan. Too many countries have been burned by finicky US export restrictions.

[SunkenCiv]

> Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-month-old government wants to clear a backlog of defence orders and boost India’s firepower, amid recent border tensions with China and heavy exchanges of fire with Pakistan across the Kashmiri frontier. “National security is the paramount concern of the government,” the source quoted Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, who also holds the finance portfolio, as telling the procurement panel.

A nice national defense stance, nicer than India’s usually are, thanks to Modi’s Hindu populism. Thanks sukhoi-30mki.

[cold start]

This is a bit more nuanced. India wanted a complete transfer of technology along with the purchase. The Israelis agreed to a complete transfer (once they saw the Javelin as a serious contender), the U.S. offered a little less than the complete transfer. Since India's complete requirement is well over 40,000 missiles, Spike was probably favored on the technology transfer front as well as cost. There are some big ticket deals involving the U.S., including the AH-64 Apache & Chinook, it is hardly a vote against the U.S. generally .

[GeronL]

India likes to buy their equipment from a broad range of foreign partners. Their aircraft alone would compromise the US, Russia, EU and possibly others if there are others.

They might end up buying T-50’’s, FA-50’s from South Korea in time.