Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that India used Israeli-made weapons — such as the jointly produced Barak-8 missile system and HARPY drones — in Operation Sindoor, India's military retaliation for the reported involvement of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pahalgam.
The things we offered earlier served us well in the field. we test develop our weapons in the field and they are tested in battle," Netanyahu stated on Thursday, while also charting his course of action to intensify operations in Gaza against Hamas. "They worked well and we have a fairly good foundation," he added.
During Operation Sindoor, which was nearly 100 hours long from May 7, India used the Barak-8 missiles and HARPY drones in addition to a variety of domestic defence systems to intercept and neutralise continuous waves of Pakistani missile attacks. India's defensive line also included the cutting-edge Russian-made S-400 air defence system.
Developed for SEAD operations, the HARPY unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is designed to hunt and destroy enemy radar sites. With a high-explosive warhead, the UAV independently searches for and destroys radiation-emitting signals and hits high-priority targets accurately.
Its prowess is its versatility—able to attack from various angles and flight profiles, either in shallow or steep dive. The drone can conduct deep-strike missions for up to nine hours, performing well both day and night.
The Barak-8 is an India-Israel co-developed long-range surface-to-air missile system designed to intercept diverse aerial threats such as hostile planes. Employing 360-degree engagement, it is capable of targeting and eliminating multiple targets simultaneously from land vehicles or naval vessels.
Operating on active radar guidance, the missile has an operating range of up to 100 km, thus making it a significant part of India's air defence framework.
Israel was one of the nations that openly endorsed India's retaliatory strike after the Pahalgam attack. Israel's Consul General in Mumbai, Kobbi Shoshani, called Operation Sindoor a rightful act of defence.
"That (Op Sindoor) was an action of self-defence, and I'm very proud of this operation," he said.
Israel remains one of India's key defence allies. In spite of the continued strife in Gaza, bilateral defence cooperation is stable. As per sources quoted by Reuters earlier last year, this trade has remained relatively unscathed.
India has bought about $2.9 billion of Israeli defence equipment in the last decade, such as missile systems, radars, and drones. Today, Israel is the fourth largest arms supplier to India—following Russia ($21.8 billion), France ($5.2 billion), and the US ($4.5 billion).
In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative, India has been scaling up its domestic defence production to reduce dependency on foreign arms.
Between 2015 and 2025, Indian defence exports rose dramatically—from ₹1,940 crore to ₹23,622 crore. Notable milestones during this period include the launch of INS Vikrant, the country’s first indigenously-built aircraft carrier.
India is also moving forward to develop its own fifth-generation combat jet, projected to be a twin-engine, single-seat stealth plane, featuring internal weapons bays and radar-absorbing technologies similar to America's F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.
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