- Barak-8 missiles, harpydrones inserted into Operation Sindoor.
- Israel calls India’s strikes “an act of self -defense”.
- Tel Aviv maintains the weapon supply to India despite the Gaza war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that weapons provided by Tel Aviv were used by India during the “Operation Sindoor”-the cross-border military campaign in which New Delhi attacked Pakistani positions under the pretext of targeting “terrorists”.
The four-day confrontation that broke out after India-without presenting evidence-depleted Pakistan for a deadly attack on tourists in Pahaldam, then artillery duels, drone strikes and air strikes exchanged between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
In response to the Indian aggression, Pakistan’s armed forces launched a large-scale military action called “Operation Bunyan-Um-Marsoos” and targeted several Indian military targets across multiple regions.
Pakistan lowered six Indian fighter jets, including three rafales, and dozens of drones. After at least 87 hours, the war between the two nuclear armed nations ended on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement broken by the United States.
In a post on X, Netanyahu said he met the Indian ambassador to Israel, JP Singh, to discuss the strengthening of “security and financial” cooperation before approaching senior Indian journalists.
Indian media reported that he acknowledged that Israeli provided systems, including Barak-8 Surface-to-Air missiles and Harpydrons, played a key role in India’s operations.
“The things we delivered before worked very well on the field … We develop our weapons in the field and they are battle -tested,” Netanyahu noted, adding that Israel is planning to escalate his military campaign in Gaza.
Weapon used against Pakistan
According to Indian media, India deployed the jointly developed Barak-8 missile system along with Israeli Harpy drones to counter Pakistani missile tremors during the May conflict. The Russian-made S-400 missile defense system and various Indian manufactured weapons were also used.
The Harpy drone is designed for “oppression of the enemy air defense” and can autonomously detect and destroy radar systems with high-explosive contention, while the barrack-8 system offers 360-degree coverage and the ability to intercept more air threats within 100 km range.
Israel’s support for India
Israeli’s backing to India’s action was explicit. Kobbi Shoshani, Israeli Consul General in Mumbai, called Operation Sindoor “an act of self -defense” and said he was “very proud” of it.
Israel is still one of India’s largest weapons suppliers with over $ 2.9 billion in hardware exports to New Delhi in the last decade, including radars, drones and missile systems. Despite its ongoing war against Gaza, Israel has maintained uninterrupted weapons supplies to India.
India’s other main suppliers are Russia ($ 21.8 billion), France ($ 5.2 billion) and USA ($ 4.5 billion).
