NEW DELHI : India has cancelled a $ 500 million deal to buy 1,600 Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel, the state-owned defence contractor Rafael Advanced Defence Systems announced on Wednesday.
The Defence Ministry had taken the decision much earlier but the company was formally informed only last week, around the same time that New Delhi was finalising purchase of $ 70 million deal for 131 Barak surface-to-air missiles from the Israeli firm. The deal was cleared by a top Defence Ministry panel on Tuesday.
In a statement, Rafael said it regretted India’s decision but remained committed to cooperating with the Defence Ministry and "to its strategy of continuing to work in India, an important market, as it has for more than two decades, to provide India with the most advanced and innovative systems."
