Missile deal with Israel to be ‘spiked’

Official sources indicated that the proposal to acquire the missile system faced hurdles when Israeli side apparently expressed reservations in ensuring full transfer of technology as per the provisions of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. 

They said the decision to retract the Request for Proposal was taken after the DRDO expressed confidence of producing the ATGMs. 

The DRDO has been given four years to develop the missile, the sources said. 

However, there was no official comment from the defence ministry on the issue. In Jerusalem, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems said it has not received any communication from India on retraction of the RFP. “Rafael has not been officially informed of any change in the decision to purchase Spike missiles. It was selected by India after a long and rigorous process,” Rafael’s deputy spokesman Ishay David said. As per the original proposal, India had planned to acquire the ATGMs for the Army at a cost of USD 500 million.