Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Israel, beginning February 25, places defence and military cooperation at the forefront of bilateral ties between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. His trip comes amid deepening strategic convergence, with both sides expected to review ongoing projects, expand joint research, and explore collaboration in advanced weapons, air defence, and unmanned aerial systems.Over nearly three decades, Israel has emerged as one of India’s leading defence equipment suppliers, with bilateral military trade running into billions of dollars and encompassing missile systems, surveillance platforms and electronic warfare equipment.Officials in New Delhi’s defence establishment said Modi’s Israel visit will not only reaffirm the political and strategic commitment underpinning this long-standing partnership, but also seek to accelerate co-development and local materiel manufacturing initiatives, in line with India’s drive for greater Atamnirbharta or self-reliance in its defence equipment needs.According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India accounted for around 34% of Israel’s total arms exports between 2020 and 2024, worth an estimated $20.5 billion. During this period, it was also India’s third-largest materiel supplier after Russia and France, accounting for around 13% of all its defence imports, either through outright sales or via local collaborative ventures involving technology transfer.Yet despite this exponentially expanding military partnership – arguably amongst Israel’s most consequential – it remains strikingly opaque, conducted largely beyond public scrutiny. Ever since formal diplomatic ties between Delhi and Tel Aviv were established in 1992, Israel has routinely understated the scale of its security cooperation with India, and Delhi has reciprocated, constrained by domestic political sensitivities and decades of strategic caution.Reciprocal visits to Delhi and Tel Aviv by military, security and intelligence officials, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) technicians and scientists and armament company executives too remain strictly under wraps, as does all bilateral military commerce executed through both private and public sectors.Long-range strike systems and moreIsrael’s contribution to India’s defence arsenal extends well beyond individual systems, reflecting a broad and substantial supply of advanced materiel.Industry officials said the defining feature of Israel’s defence exports to India is ‘modular integration’, as Tel Aviv rarely supplies complete heavy platforms. Instead, it provides missiles, seekers, radars, sensors, electronic warfare suites, UAV technologies and a host of force multipliers that seamlessly integrate with India’s Russian, Western, and indigenous systems, enabling rapid capability upgrades without full platform replacement. Combined with the Indian military’s talent for jugaad or creative innovation, Israeli military goods create a potent synergy, allowing systems to be continuously upgraded, cross-integrated, and operated with enhanced effectiveness across both offensive and defensive roles.Over the past few years, Israel has supplied India with a suite of advanced long-range strike systems, several of which were employed in Operation Sindoor. One of these packages, valued at around $8 billion, includes SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact and Cost Effective) GPS/INS kits developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems that convert conventional bombs into precision-guided munitions. This provides the Indian Air Force (IAF) stand-off strike capability, along with missiles like Rampage for deep-penetration strikes, Air Lora for rapid strategic engagement, and Ice Breaker for persistent long-range attacks. Together, these systems enable layered, networked strikes against high-value targets while minimising exposure to enemy defences, as evidenced during Sindoor.Barak, SPYDER, Derby, Heron…India’s missile collaboration with Israel began in the 1990s, initially with the Barak-1 surface-to-air missile (SAM), and later evolved into the co-development of the Barak-8 alongside the DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Barak-8 was first deployed on frontline Indian Navy (IN) destroyers and frigates and was subsequently inducted into the IAF and the Indian Army (IA) to provide integrated area air defence against aerial threats. It exemplifies a co-development model, integrating Israeli radar, seeker, and command technologies with domestic production capabilities, rather than being a simple missile import.The Barak-1. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Natan Flayer – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.Complementing this layered Barak shield is the SPYDER quick-reaction surface-to-air missile system, inducted by the IAF to protect high-value assets from low-level aerial attacks. SPYDER uses the Derby missile and Python-class infrared interceptors, giving India a rapid point-defence capability in a mobile configuration.In the air-to-air domain, Derby missiles have also been integrated onto IAF fighters like Tejas to augment beyond-visual-range (BVR) engagement envelopes. And, on land, the IA has imported variants of the Spike anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) from Rafael, which provides fire-and-forget capability, tandem warheads for armour penetration and adaptable launch configurations for both infantry units and infantry combat vehicles (ICVs).Israel, however, has been foundational to India’s unmanned aerial architecture with its Heron and Searcher UAVs providing long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) coverage along both the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control from the mid-1990s onwards. Upgraded Heron variants with satellite communication links and enhanced payload integration have further extended the UAVs’ operational range and endurance, giving Indian commanders near-continuous situational awareness across sensitive sectors. In effect, Israeli UAVs comprise the backbone of the Indian military’s real-time tactical reconnaissance grid at a time when several of its analogous indigenous systems were maturing.Alongside this surveillance ecosystem, India’s ISR network has further evolved into a precision strike capability through Israeli loitering munitions. It has imported IAI’s kamikaze Harop drone, designed to loiter over a target area before diving onto enemy radar emitters or high-value assets. Unlike the IAI Heron or IAI Searcher, which gather intelligence for separate strike platforms, Harop collapses the sensor-to-shooter loop into a single expendable system, and was effectively employed during Sindoor, signalling a doctrinal shift toward stand-off precision strikes and unmanned suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD).Along comes AdaniIndia’s private-sector UAV manufacturing sector, too, has deepened through a joint venture between Adani Defence & Aerospace and Israel’s Elbit Systems, operating as Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd in Hyderabad. The flagship platform produced under this collaboration is the Hermes 900 MALE (Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance) UAV, marking the first time the aircraft has been manufactured outside Israel. In Indian military service, the platform is marketed as the Drishti-10 Starliner, tailored for long-endurance ISR by the IA and the IN. With durability exceeding 30 hours and satellite communication capability, this UAV system significantly enhances maritime domain awareness and border surveillance.Hermes 900 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAVs. Photo: XThe IAF’s acquisition of three IAI EL/W-2090 Phalcon airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platforms for $1.1 billion under a 2004 deal further underscored the depth of its military technology cooperation with Israel. Delivered between 2009 and 2011, the Phalcon system is an advanced AEW&C radar suite based on active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology, mounted on an upgraded and up-engined Russian-origin Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft. Capable of tracking multiple aerial and surface targets at long range, it provides real-time situational awareness, and serves as an airborne battle management centre linking fighters, ground radars and air defence assets. These three Phalcons, too, were effectively deployed during Sindoor.A less visible, but equally critical layer of Israeli military equipment involves miscellaneous radars and EW systems. Assorted EL/M-series radars, for instance, supplied by IAI equip IN and AEW&C platforms, while Israeli electro-optical sensors, targeting pods, and jamming systems have upgraded IAF fighters like the recently retired MiG-21 fighters, enhancing their survivability in contested environments. Israeli border surveillance technologies — including thermal imagers, smart fencing systems and integrated sensor grids — have also been deployed along India’s unresolved borders with China and Pakistan to augment the IAs counter-infiltration posture.Surveillance techBeyond kinetic systems, Israel’s exports to India have extended into cyber and surveillance technologies. The most controversial case involves Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group. Designed for counterterrorism and law enforcement, Pegasus can covertly infiltrate smartphones to extract communications and activate sensors. Allegations that it was used to monitor the devices of Indian Opposition politicians, journalists, lawyers, and civil rights activists, amongst others, underline the sensitive intelligence dimension of Indo-Israeli cooperation. This particular episode illustrates that this partnership is not just about military kit, but reaches deep into the very fabric of the Indian government’s information control and national surveillance.Furthermore, India–Israel defence cooperation has extended into the space sector, most notably through India’s radar imaging satellite-RISAT-2, launched in 2009. This satellite incorporated an X-band synthetic aperture radar supplied by IAI, reportedly drawing on technology associated with Israel’s Ofek (Horizon) reconnaissance series of satellites. Fast-tracked after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, RISAT-2 gave India all-weather, day-night surveillance capability, allowing persistent monitoring of borders and coastal zones regardless of cloud cover.And though India does not operate Ofek satellites, this collaboration reflected a strategic transfer of high-end sensor technology rather than platforms. It marked a quiet but consequential expansion of the partnership into space-based ISR, integrating Israeli radar expertise into India’s sovereign satellite architecture and strengthening a layered surveillance ecosystem spanning orbit, high-altitude UAVs and precision-strike systems.Even small arms reflect India’s long-standing defence collaboration with Israel. Israel Weapon Industries’ (IWI) Negev NG-7 light machine guns, for instance, due to be supplied later this year through a joint venture with PLR Systems (Adani Group 51%, IWI 49%), are set to arm the IA with 41,000 units, worth over Rs 2,200 crore. Earlier, the Army had received around 17,000 NG-7s directly from IWI, while in 2002–03, its Special Forces had imported around 3,000 Tavor-21 assault rifles and an unspecified number of Galil sniper rifles, establishing a precedent for integrating Israeli small arms alongside locally produced weapon systems.IDF Negev light machine gun,, Photo: Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0A longstanding associationBefore normalising diplomatic ties in 1992, Israel had assisted India stealthily for decades, providing it with limited military aid and weaponry during its brief, albeit disastrous war with China in 1962, with its Chief of Staff, General David Shaltiel, visiting Delhi surreptitiously soon after, in 1963. Israel provided similar, albeit limited, assistance during India’s subsequent conflicts with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, largely through ammunition and assorted ordnance supplies.Clandestine ties continued thereafter with senior Indian security officials travelling to Israel via Cyprus, as no direct air links between the two countries existed, to ensure that their passports would have no record of their visit to the Jewish state. However, after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, India is believed to have sought, and secured Israeli help in upgrading its VIP protection procedures by training and arming its newly raised Special Protection Group and National Security Guard personnel. These commandoes, too, reportedly utilised the Cyprus route. Israeli specialists also devised former prime minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi’s security architecture that broadly continues with minor alterations for his successors, including Modi.But the disintegration in the early 1990s of the Soviet Union, India’s longstanding ally and principal weapons supplier, was a turning point in Delhi’s military ties with Israel. Crucial supplies of arms and spares for military equipment either ceased or were interminably delayed, as overnight, numerous suppliers found themselves located in independent neighbouring republics that were inimical to Moscow. Consequently, India was compelled to consider alternate materiel sources at a critical period that coincided with the eruption of the Kashmiri insurgency in late 1989.The establishment of official diplomatic ties with Israel in January 1992 under then prime minister, the late Narasimha Rao enabled both sides to fast-track their strategic and defence relationship based on mutual security and commercial interests. Israel, for its part, rightly perceived a lucrative commercial opportunity, while India looked upon Tel Aviv as a reliable materiel provider, especially of varied types of ammunition and missile systems which India’s military badly lacked, and still does.Nonetheless, it still took another six-odd years and the BJP’s ascent to power under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for Israel’s defence machinery to definitively establish itself in India, second only to the Russians and thereafter to the US and France. Being a ‘closet’ nuclear-weapon state, Israel’s decision not to condemn India’s May 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests also helped considerably, further endearing Tel Aviv to Delhi and vice versa.However, it was India’s 11-week-long Kargil war with Pakistan in 1999 that catapulted Israel’s defence industry to centre stage domestically. As the seriousness of the deadly conflict unfolded, commercially savvy Israel dug deep into its military reserves to supply India with high-end hardware, especially badly-needed 155 mm howitzer rounds for its 155mm Bofors guns, laser-guided munitions and other ordnance that contributed largely to the Pakistan Army vacating the mountainous regions’ siege and ending hostilities.Soon after, Israel began claiming its dues in materiel and related force multiplier equipment sales and continues to do so, prospering greatly in the process.Alongside, the Indian military exhibited interest in the Israel Defense Forces’ successful warfare strategies and concepts, particularly in countering armed insurgencies. Intelligence sharing on terrorism issues also proliferated, as did Israeli military training assistance to India’s Special Forces. The rationale that Israel and India shared similar, but unpublicised concerns over threats posed not only by a nuclear-weapon capable and increasingly Islamised Pakistan, but the rapid radicalisation of its society and armed forces further cemented bilateral security and military ties that Modi will only further cement over these two days. But, it will be behind closed doors.