Netanyahu inspects north Gaza, vows to continue fight
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the northern Gaza Strip and vowed to continue the fight, his office has said.
The Spike anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) deal is “back on track”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this to Israeli media on Wednesday. He said that the Indian government has decided to put the deal back on track following talks with his “friend”, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
His comment comes just weeks after India scrapped the USD 500 million deal for the much-needed ATGM for the India Army.
The cancellation of the deal, which came just ahead of Netanyahu’s six-day visit to India, appeared to cast a shadow on the otherwise robust ties between New Delhi and Tel Aviv.
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According to the Israeli media, the revival of the deal is a “major strategic achievement”.
Quoting Netanyahu after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jerusalem Post wrote: “This (the Spike deal) is very important, and there will be many more deals.”
Though details of the deal are yet to be worked out, the Israeli media hailed the positive development.
The deal for 1600 Spike missiles has been on and off ever since India picked the missile over the US-made Javelin in 2014.
India had previously scrapped the deal in November 2017. New Delhi has been insisting on transfer of technology to bolster defence production in the country under the government’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been asked by the government to produce a Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) which is at par with Spike. The DRDO has been successful in producing the Nag, a 3rd generation fire-and-forget ATGM.
The Spike MR (ground-based) missile is a 4th generation, man portable, fire-and-forget, top attack ATGM with a range of 2.5 km. It can be operated both during the day and night.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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