India’s defence partnership with Israel enters new phase with signing of Strategic Agreement

By R Anil Kumar

• ‘Make In India’ Meets Israeli Tech: How ATEMM Deal Recasts India-Israel Defence Ties

• The Belrise–Plasan ATEMM pact highlights how India-Israel defence ties are shifting from arms sales to joint manufacturing and battlefield technology integration

Bengaluru. India’s defence partnership with Israel entered a new phase this month with the signing of a three-year strategic agreement between India’s Belrise Industries and Israel’s Plasan Sasa to co-produce the All-Terrain Electric Mission Module (ATEMM) platform for the Indian armed forces.

Far more than a commercial deal, the agreement reflects the steady evolution of India-Israel defence ties from a buyer-seller relationship into a technology-driven industrial partnership.

“The ATEMM is a cutting-edge self-propelled electric platform designed to enhance operational payload, energy, survivability, and mobility for modern armed forces,” a statement issued by Plasan reads. “The partnership aims to deliver advanced mission-ready solutions tailored to the requirements of the Indian defence sector, aligning with the Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-reliant India) initiatives.”

According to the statement, this agreement will help in the joint pursuit of ATEMM systems for Indian military applications. It will strengthen India’s defence ecosystem through localised production and technology transfer. It will lead to future integration into Plasan’s global supply chain for cost-effective production in India. Belrise’s manufacturing capabilities will combine with Plasan’s innovation.

The deal underscores how Israel has become one of New Delhi’s most important partners in translating the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ into practical defence manufacturing outcomes.

Belrise Industries is an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in India that specialises in automotive systems for the two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler passenger and commercial vehicle niche. Plasan deals in survivability and armour solutions. It has subsidiaries in the US, France and Israel. Plasan provides comprehensive survivability solutions from armoured vehicles designed and manufactured to tailored protection and integrated systems for OEM platforms, its website reads.

The ATEMM is a robotic platform designed to deliver energy to the battlefield, reduce the logistical burden, and extend operational reach. It can seamlessly connect to a leading vehicle, transforming a 4×4 vehicle into synchronised 6×6 platform with enhanced power, improved mobility and additional 1.0T payload. In its tandem configuration, disconnected from the lead vehicle, the ATEMM can transition into a robotic platform and operate remotely or autonomously, providing double the power and payload.

Historically, India–Israel defence ties were largely procurement-oriented – with India buying systems like missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and sensing equipment from Israeli firms. This deal reflects a shift toward joint development, localisation and production rather than mere imports. It signals a maturing relationship with co-innovation and industrial collaboration at its core.

This aligns with broader bilateral initiatives recently pursued by New Delhi and Tel Aviv to deepen defence cooperation frameworks beyond transactional buys. The Belrise-Plasan deal exemplifies how Indian and Israeli companies can align with New Delhi’s policies aimed at defence self-reliance and domestic production. It reinforces the shift toward technology transfer and local engineering participation, a priority for India in strengthening private sector contributions to defence.

By integrating Belrise into Plasan’s global supply chain and co-developing platforms like ATEMM in India, the partnership brings advanced electric mobility technologies to India’s defence producers, skill development and capability building for local defence manufacturing, and potential for exports or joint global market outreach leveraging India’s cost and scale advantages.

S Samuel C Rajiv, Associate Fellow in the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, said that many Indian high-tech companies are getting into joint ventures with Israeli firms. “Hopefully, this will help the new (Belrise-Plasan) joint venture get new contracts from the Indian armed forces,” Rajiv said.

It is worth mentioning here that India and Israel today share one of the most substantive and quietly influential defence relationships in the Indo-Pacific and West Asia. Built on mutual security needs, technological complementarity, and political trust, their defence partnership has evolved from discreet arms transactions into a deep, multi-layered ecosystem spanning weapons, intelligence, joint development, and industrial co-production.

Defence cooperation became the backbone of the relationship because of three shared realities: persistent security threats from terrorism, hostile neighbours, and asymmetric warfare; operationally demanding environments (mountains, deserts, borders, and urban warfare); and a strong need for advanced, combat-tested military technology.

When India launched Operation Sindoor against in May this year following the Pahalagam terror attack, Israeli defence equipment came in handy. Israeli Prime Miniter Benjamin Netanyahu had acknowledged India’s use of his country’s weapons, including the Barak-8 missile, developed jointly with India’s Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), and HARPY drones.

“The things we provided before worked very well on the field… we develop our weapons in the field and they are battle-tested,” Netanyahu said in August. “They worked fine and we have a pretty solid foundation.”

Over the past decade, India has purchased about $2.9 billion worth of defence equipment from Israel, ranging from radars and unmanned aerial vehicles to missile systems, underscoring Tel Aviv’s role as a reliable and consistent supplier to New Delhi. Israel now ranks as India’s fourth-largest defence supplier during this period, behind Russia ($21.8 billion), France ($5.2 billion), and the US ($4.5 billion).

It is in the context of this that the Belrise–Plasan Sasa ATEMM agreement should be seen as more than a commercial contract – it’s a strategic marker in India–Israel defence partnership. It reflects evolving dynamics where both nations seek co-innovation, localisation, and integrated production of defence technologies that align with India’s industrial and operational ambitions.

Through this deal, India is not just receiving equipment but is sharing in its future development and production, accelerating the transition from a buyer of defence platforms to a collaborative manufacturer and innovator in the global defence industry.

(With Inputs from Plasan statement)