India supplying rockets and UAVs to Israel – report

India is manufacturing missiles and drones for Israel to use in the Gaza war, according to Al Jazeera.

The cooperation between India and Israel is mainly based on missiles, Zain Hussain, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told Al Jazeera. According to the institute, the Indian company Premier Explosives manufactures solid fuel, an important part of rocket engines in Israeli weapons. Given that India is involved in the production of the Barak air defense system of the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), it is not impossible that these components are required for the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 air defense systems.

In addition, the Palestinian Quds News Network displayed the remains of a missile found in the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip, with the words “Made in India” written on its interlocking parts.

Premier Explosives CEO T. Chowdary told investors in late March that the Israeli orders had led to a huge increase in sales. “We are pleased to announce our highest quarterly revenue ever,” he said. Chowdary added that the company had also begun exporting explosives.

India-Israel cooperation is not limited to missiles and their components, and Israel Aerospace Industries is not the only major Israeli defense company operating in the subcontinent. In December 2018, Elbit Systems launched a collaboration with the defense and aerospace arm of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, owner of the port of Haifa. As part of the collaboration, Hermes 900 and 450 drones are being manufactured, among other things. During the war, Hezbollah intercepted two drones of each model, while the Hermes 900, according to foreign reports, can cost up to $6.85 million each, while the Hermes 450 costs $2 million.

“Producing Hermes drones is as important for India as it is for Israel,” SIPRI’s Hussain told Al Jazeera. “For Israel, it means having a factory abroad. For India, it’s about transferring technology, so that they can also produce drones based on the Israeli model.” Indeed, India this year launched its Drishti 10 Starliner, based on the Hermes, the first Indian-made medium-altitude, long-endurance drone.

Large shipments are transported by ship.

On May 16, Spain refused to allow a ship carrying explosives from India to Israel to dock in the country. According to a Spanish minister, the Marian Danica had requested to dock in Cartagena on May 21. The Marian Danica, sailing under a Danish flag, had left the Indian port of Chennai on April 8 and, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, was carrying 27 tons of explosives. The ship would not have come close to Spanish waters had it not been for attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, meaning it was rerouted around Africa to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean.

The day before the Marianne Danica was refused permission to dock in Spain, the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged container ship Borkum turned back shortly before sailing to Cartagena, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators and left-wing MEPs were protesting, after sending a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez demanding that the ship not be allowed to dock in Spain due to suspicions that it was carrying weapons to Israel. Before the Spanish government could make a decision on the matter, Borkum cancelled its stop in Cartagena and continued on to Koper in Slovenia.

According to Al Jazeera, the ship, which also sailed from Chennai, was carrying weapons bound for Ashdod. Pro-Palestinian protesters claimed that the Borkum was carrying 20 tons of rocket engines, 12.5 tons of rockets loaded with explosive charges, 1,500 kilograms of explosives, and 740 kilograms of charges and fuel for the guns. Al Jazeera claimed that the confidentiality clause prohibited all employees from naming the company IMI Systems, which was acquired by Elbit Systems in 2018. However, the commercial director of the ship, owned by the German company MLB Manfred Lauterung Befrachtung, told Al Jazeera that “the ship did not carry any weapons or any other cargo for the destination in Israel.”

This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on July 2, 2024.

© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.