Israel has signed about two billion US dollars deal with India to supply advanced missile defence systems, bolstering bilateral military ties. <br/><br/>CEO of the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) , Joseph Weiss said in a statement that, it will provide advanced medium-range surface-to-air missile systems (MRSAM) to the Indian Army. <br/><br/>He said it would also supply additional long-range air and missile defence systems (LRSAM) for the first locally produced Indian aircraft carrier. He said the current contracts represent an enormous expression of confidence by the Government of India in IAI's capabilities and advanced technologies, which are being developed with our local partners as part of the Indian Government's Make in India' policy'. <br/><br/>MRSAM's current version is operational with the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Israel Defence Forces (IDF).<br/><br/>The system includes an advanced phased-array radar,command and control, mobile launchers and missiles withadvanced RF seekers.

India and Israel yesterday signed mega defence deals worth over 2 billion dollar for advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, to further tighten the bilateral strategic partnership ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July. <br/><br/>The SAM systems are designed to destroy hostile aircraft, missiles and drones at a range of 70-km. <br/>Ministry of Defense sources said the major deal was for the joint project between the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Barak-8 medium-range SAM systems to initially include one regiment of 16 launchers and 560 missiles for the Indian Army. <br/><br/>These Barak-8 systems, with their MF-STARs (multi-function surveillance and threat alert radars) as well as weapon control systems with data links, can detect and track hostile aerial threats at a range of 100-km and destroy them at 70-km. Consequently, they will help in plugging the existing holes in India's air defence coverage.<br/> <br/>The Cabinet Committee on Security in February had cleared the MR-SAM project for the Army at an overall cost of 16,830 crore rupees, which will now include a first installment of 1,500 crore rupees.