India's Naval Chief, Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma began a four day visit to Israel, as New Delhi and Tel Aviv are poised to start joint development and production of futuristic weapon systems and platforms. Both the countries are said to be recently discussing the prospect of further expanding defence relationship with strategic implications. The volume of defence business between the two countries can be gauged from the fact that Israel has already supplied Barak missiles to the Navy, night fighting devices to the Army and the Air Force and improved the radar network of the Indian Air Forces supplying hitech electronic warfare systems and information technology. The first of the three Phalcon airborne early warning radar systems (AWACS) supplied by Israel as part of a 1.1 billion US dollars deal has given a big boost to India's reconnaissance capabilities.As per local sources, India is Israel's single largest importer of its defence equipment constituting about 50 per cent of Israel's defence exports and about 30 per cent of India's imports. India has also sought to replace weapons procurement from Israel with joint development projects, including potential sale of the jointly manufactured defence equipments to other countries.Defence sources in Tel Aviv described Indian Naval Chief's visit a part of service to service cooperation during which wide ranging defence cooperation between the countries will be reviewed. Admiral Verma, heading a high-level delegation was invited by his Israeli counterpart Eliezer Marom. He will also call upon Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and other senior defence officials during his four day trip. He will visit the Haifa cemetery tomorrow to lay a wreath on the memorial of fallen Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the liberation of Haifa during World War I. A large number of Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives in this region during the First World War and nearly 900 are cremated or buried in cemeteries across Israel.