India Israel defence cooperation set to expand as Maj Gen Amir Baram briefs Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

India Israel defence cooperation will be widened further, the head of Israel's Ministry of Defence told Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a call on the minister in New Delhi on Monday.

Maj Gen (Retd) Amir Baram, Director General of the Israeli defence ministry, briefed Rajnath Singh on his country's intent to deepen the relationship under the India Israel Special Strategic Partnership. The Ministry of Defence announced the meeting through its official channels, releasing photographs of the two men and their delegations in the minister's office.

No agreement was signed and no single programme was named.



Where India Israel defence cooperation stands

Israel is among the first countries India turns to for advanced military hardware. Air defence systems, loitering munitions, radars, electronic warfare suites and precision sensors have all crossed from Israeli industry into Indian service over the past two decades, much of it now built through joint ventures on Indian soil, and the trade has run into billions of dollars.

Some of that hardware has seen combat. Israeli-origin loitering munitions were reported to have been used by Indian forces during Operation Sindoor in 2025.

A partnership built on co-development

The sharpest example is the Barak-8 air defence missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation with Israel Aerospace Industries as the lead technology partner. Fielded by the Army, Navy and Air Force as the MRSAM, it is integrated in India, with Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems supplying key components.

That same model is why provenance stays a live argument here. The gap between a genuinely indigenous system and a licence-built import can be narrow, as the dispute over Nibe's Suryastra rocket launcher showed this month.

Baram's second India visit

Baram already knows South Block. He travelled to India in 2025 and went on to co-chair the 17th meeting of the India Israel Joint Working Group on defence cooperation in Tel Aviv that November, where Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and Baram signed a memorandum of understanding on advanced defence technologies spanning training, industrial collaboration, artificial intelligence and cyber.

The Aatmanirbhar Bharat test

For New Delhi, every fresh round runs through one filter. Israeli majors including Rafael, Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit have learned to operate inside the Make in India framework, taking Indian partners rather than selling off the shelf, which suits the Aatmanirbhar Bharat push even as the question of how much value is added at home keeps returning, as it did over the SMPP loitering munition. India's broader line on the relationship is set out by the Ministry of External Affairs.

What the meeting produced

A briefing and a restated commitment. The Ministry of Defence cast Baram's call as a reaffirmation of Israel's intent to expand India Israel defence cooperation, not the start of any new project.