Rafael In JV Talks With Bharat Forge For Spike Missiles Production In India

Rafael is discussing a joint venture with Bharat Forge to produce Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) in India.

Rafael has completed all preparatory work with Bharat Forge for the collaboration, President and CEO of the company Yoav Har-Even told Vayu in an interview.

Rafael is also in talks with Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) – a prime integrator of the missile, to become a Tier 1 supplier to BDL and to help in indigenous manufacturing of systems by supplying subsystems to BDL.

Spike is a third generation, fire-and-forget, man-portable, anti-tank missile. In all, about 40,000 missiles are required to equip the Army’s 382 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised regiments.

In October 2014, the Defence Acquisition Council chaired by then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had cleared the Spike ATGM deal worth Rs. 3,200 crore deal for 8,000 plus missiles, 300 plus launchers and requisite transfer of technology to an Indian firm.