Israel, India to agree on 10-year military agreement

Israel and India agreed to form a task force to design a ten-year plan for defence cooperation, The Hindustan Times reported on Friday, adding that the plan will identify new areas of collaboration and cover defence procurement, production and research and development.

The two states are part of a joint working group on defence cooperation, co-chaired by Ajay Kumar, the director-general of India's defence ministry, and Major General Amir Eshel, the director-general of Israel's ministry of defence.

The working group held its 15th meeting in Israel last week, during which the decision to form the task force was taken.

"The two sides reviewed the progress made in military-to-military engagements including exercises and industry cooperation," India's defence ministry told The Hindustan Times.

The officials also agreed on the creation of sub-working groups to cover efficient resource utilisation, effective flow of technologies, and sharing industrial capabilities.

Israel is among India's top defence partners - supplying India with over $1 billion a year in various weapons systems. Israel is India's third biggest weapons supplier for the last five years, after Russia and France.

India and Israel long-had problematic ties but relations improved under right-wing Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi.