Issue Brief on “India’s Purchasing of IAI Elta Drone Guard and its Regional (In) security Implications”

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Israel’s major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has announced selling in dozens of their counter-UAV Drone Guard systems, the IAI Elta Drone Guard, to an unspecified South Asian country. Israel usually keeps their customers anonymous leaving observers to speculate whom it might be. From the South Asian countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Israel has no diplomatic relationships with Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.[1]The remaining have no major military ambitions other than India. The argument could be further justified with the signing of accords between IAI and Indian firms to share drone technology and produce UAVs for India.[2] Furthermore, Eli Alfassi, EVP, Marketing of IAI in an interview to Geopolitics Magazine stated, “Indian authorities have shown significant interest in this system which is already in service with several customers.”[3] All of this indicates the speculation of India being the obvious buyer of these drone guards.

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