Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) on Wednesday announced it has been awarded an additional, $777-million mega-contract to supply LRSAM Air & Missile Defense systems—the marine version of the AMD system Barak 8—for seven ships of the Indian navy.
According to IAI, Barak 8 sales total more than $6 billion to date.
Barak 8, a.k.a. LR-SAM or as MR-SAM, is an Indian-Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM), designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs, as well as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat jets. The system is available in both maritime and land-based versions.
The contract was entered with Indian state-owned company Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which serves as the main contractor in the project.
The LRSAM system, part of the Barak 8 Family, is an operational AMD system used by Israel’s navy as well as by India’s navy, air and land forces. It provides broad Aerial and point defense against a wide range of threats to the marine arena from the air, sea or land. The system integrates several advanced state-of-the-art systems, such as digital radar, command and control, launchers, interceptors with modern RF seekers, Data link and system-wide connectivity.
Nimrod Sheffer, IAI CEO& President, said in a statement: “This deal reflects the direction in which IAI is heading: business focus, profitability and growth. IAI’s partnership with India dates many years back and has culminated in joint system development and production. India is a major market for IAI and we plan to protest and reinforce our positioning in India, also in view of increasing competition. For its part, IAI management continually refreshes its business strategy while preserving the core capability and growth engines, of which the Barak 8 is an example”.
Boaz Levi, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Systems, Missiles & Space Group, said in a statement: “We thank our partners in India and BEL for their choice of IAI in a project that best reflects the close technological cooperation between Israel and India. With this deal, the sales of the Barak 8 over the past few years total over $6 billion. This is another evidence of the capabilities of this advanced weapon system, which serves as a central growth engine for IAI. Barak 8 is an operational system that provides a full response to a range of threats, built to cooperate with other systems, it provides customers with operational flexibility for maximum effectiveness on the battlefield”.
The Barak-8 AMD system was developed by IAI in collaboration with Israel’s Defense Ministry, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, the navies of both countries, IAI’s Elta Group, Rafael and local industries in India and Israel.