India plans to acquire for Heron drones and Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) from Israel under the emergency financial powers granted by the government according to reports the ANI.
The Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are already in the Air Force, Navy, and the Army and are being used extensively at the moment by both Army surveillance and Target acquisition batteries and Air Force in the Ladakh sector.
“There is a need for acquisition of Heron UAVs to add to the existing fleet of these drones for meeting the requirements of our Air Force fleet. We are planning to place orders for these UAVs,” government sources told ANI here without specifying the numbers to be procured.
The forces are also working towards inducting an armed version of the UAV, as well as upgrading the existing fleet into combat UAVs under the ambitious ‘Project Cheetah’ spearheaded by the Indian Air Force.
On the other hand, the Indian Army is planning to acquire additional Spike ATGM (anti-tank guided missiles) which were received by it last year from Israel under the emergency financial powers granted to the services.
Last time, the Indian Army had procured 12 launchers and 200 Spike missiles. “We are planning to acquire more of these anti-tank missiles for tackling any threat from the enemy armoured regiments,” the sources said.
Spike is fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead and is designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Earlier as EurAsian Times reported, the Indian Army was given the green light to purchase the Israeli ATGMs after the February 2019 military conflict between India and Pakistan following Balakot airstrikes. The decision to procure the 240 ATGMs and 12 launchers were reportedly made during the five-day biannual Army Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi, according to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly.
