India to explore anti-ballistic missile defence with Israel

While both countries are expected to sign an MoU on security cooperation, no defence deal will be signed.

Updated on: Feb 21, 2026, 13:25:28 IST

By Shishir Gupta

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On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Israel, India is looking to deepen and expand strategic ties and defence cooperation, which includes joint development of anti-ballistic missile defence, laser weapons and long range stand-off missiles and drones. PM Modi will be visiting Israel from February 25-26.

Given that PM Modi has close ties with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two countries are on the same page on a host of political issues and speak in one voice against terrorism. (File Photo)

While both countries are expected to sign an MoU on security cooperation, no defence deal will be signed between the two countries as bilateral defence cooperation is an on-going process between two very close allies and is worth around USD 10 billion over the next years.

Even though the two sides are tight-lipped about PM Modi’s visit, it is understood that Israel has agreed to share latest defence technologies with India includes much sought after hi-tech laser defence and other stand-off systems. Israel is expected to share all defence technologies, something it had not done in the past years.

The foundation to this expanded defence cooperation was laid during Defence Secretary RK Singh’s visit to Israel last November in which an MoU on expanded defence cooperation was signed.

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Israel is a leader in anti-ballistic missile system with long range Arrow, medium range David’s Sling and short range Iron Dome system. (HT Photo)

India is exploring joint development of anti-ballistic missile defence with Israel, which is the key to Mission Sudershan or ensuring that Indian hinterland is protected from enemy long range missiles. Mission Sudershan was announced by PM Modi and is at the heart of Indian anti-ballistic missile defence. Israel is a leader in anti-ballistic missile system with long range Arrow, medium range David’s Sling and short range Iron Dome system. Tel Aviv has a proven system as it intercepted 98 per cent of ballistic missile fired by Iran last June.

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India is also looking to buy long range missiles and loitering ammunition, which can be launched by air, ground and sea beyond the air defence system of enemy nations. During Operation Sindoor, India used Rampage missiles, Palm 400, Harpy and Harop kamikaze loitering ammunition against Pakistani targets and nearly wiped out enemy’s Chinese built air defences with strikes as deep as Islamabad. In this category, India will buy Spice 1000 long range glided bombs, Rampage air to surface missile used to destroy terrorist training camp during Op Sindoor, Air Lora air launched ballistic missiles and long range Ice Breaker missile system. Besides, India Navy is looking to purchase extended range Barak surface to missile system to protect its warships from enemy air and surface launched missiles.

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Given that PM Modi has close ties with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two countries are on the same page on a host of political issues and speak in one voice against terrorism. During the visit, India and Israel will be holding dialogue science and technology, agriculture and clean drinking water apart from high end quantum computing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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