India and Israel, the two most successful democracies in the world, are able to preserve, in observable ways, their relatively similar, ancient, spiritual, and cultural essence and heritage in the ever-modernising and transformative world. Yet able to develop their prominent IT and defence sectors, dealing with the same geopolitical challenges from the network of antidemocratic and radicalised regimes. The collaborations between both countries in the areas of IT and defence security through shared information and knowledge, joint ventures and capital investments, policy-making, and trade have fostered not only India’s economic development but also helped build a stronger defence system. On the other hand, India is one of the key partners for defence exports and diplomacy for Israel. This article would attempt to depict the contributions of India-Israel collaboration to India’s IT and Defense sector from a futuristic perspective.
Contribution to the IT Sector
The two most important pillars of Israel’s development policy framework are its rapidly evolving start-up ecosystem, which has not only influenced the interest of Indian investors and entrepreneurs but also facilitated cross-country innovation and development initiatives, such as the India-Israel Innovation Bridge initiative, designed to support Israeli and Indian start-ups. Secondly, Joint educational initiatives and skill enhancement programs are underway to develop a workforce proficient in information technology and related disciplines. These programs frequently involve partnerships between universities and research institutions from both countries. The collaborations between both countries in the form of joint ventures, research, and educational programs in domains such as data analytics and artificial intelligence would aspire to co-create technologies for sectors such as agriculture and healthcare.
The IT sector in India is playing an important role in the growth of GDP and productivity increase. Innovation is crucial for India’s long-term economic sustainability because analysis of Indian IT firms reveals that adopting Israeli strategies can enhance their international competitiveness, showcasing successful adaptations of innovative practices. Israel has successfully developed a competitive high-tech industry using its R&D-intensive segments, which could become a key to the development of the Indian high-tech sector. The implementation of Israel’s venture capital model was instrumental in nurturing Indian firms, enabling them to scale up and compete globally.
Bridging Technological Gaps
The integration of advanced technologies from Israel can help create jobs in labour-intensive sectors, address poverty, and improve agricultural productivity in India. For the past several decades, the agricultural industry played an important part in the Indian economy. India can benefit from the product innovations of Israel’s agri-tech industry. Cutting technologies such as IOT, AI, and drones enhance crop productivity and food security despite environmental challenges and technologies to improve combat issues like water scarcity and soil health to increase agricultural output.
In the perspective of India, the collaboration between India and Israel has brought substantial benefits, yet there are challenges to work on, such as disparities in access to technology. In order to ensure that innovation reaches the broader population that can bridge the gap between high-tech advancements and the needs of the underserved communities in India, inclusive policies are needed.
Contribution to the Defence Sector
Israel ranks as India’s second-largest provider of defence equipment, following Russia, and supplies sophisticated weapon systems and technology. This partnership includes joint research and development efforts, which can result in more economical solutions and improved security capabilities for India.
Evolving technologies have always been enablers for the growth of humanity, and the armed forces worldwide have been no exception. The last century saw the emergence and the consequent domination of the Air Force and the space segment. These were unmistakably the third and fourth dimensions of Military warfare. The Army and the Navy are the first and second dimensions and are now 3000-plus years old conceptually. This century is now poised for the induction of the 5th and the sixth dimensions, viz. Unmanned Autonomous platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Technologies and Hypersonic Systems will rapidly reshape military capabilities and strategies, potentially leading to a new era in warfare.
Emerging Defence Technologies
The ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Iran Conflict have amply proven the concepts of smaller, unmanned, expendable and autonomous platforms in all three domains, viz. Air, Land and Sea. Unlike in previous years, the present unmanned autonomous platforms have emerged as weapons themselves, in addition to being platforms or weapon carriers.
The team of Indian Navy experts started the space program of the exclusive military geostationary communications satellite GSAT-7 for the Indian Navy in 2003, thereby giving the Navy its fourth dimension. Certain capabilities within this satellite were kept suitable for the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force as well. The induction of these disruptive technologies could govern the evolution of new strategic and tactical platforms that will shape future battlegrounds. Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) for use by the Indian Army and Ground Para Military Forces for intelligence gathering, surveillance, road opening, weapon delivery, riot control, etc. and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) for use by the Indian Navy and waterborne paramilitary forces for coastal patrols, mine clearance operations, anti-terrorist operations and offensive attack capabilities etc.
Make in India and Defence Exports
The Government of India, along with the Ministry of Defense, are promoting the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Make in India in a very big way. The dependence of the Armed Forces on foreign equipment and weapons is decreasing, and the Transfer of Technology (TOT) to India and collaboration with foreign OEMs is fast becoming a norm. To enable the induction of UGVs and USVs for our defence and Para Military Forces, after protracted negotiations and discussions, we have been able to collaborate with a European company as well as Israeli partners. Transfer of technology through a joint venture in these two spheres. These platforms would be available in three sizes, viz. small. Medium, large and three versions: Electric, Conventional Fuel and Hybrid. We intend to manufacture in India not just for domestic consumption but also for global exports.
The global autonomous vehicle development platform market size was valued at USD 21.32 billion in 2023. The market is projected to grow from USD 26.02 billion in 2024 to USD 139.60 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 23.4 % during the forecast period. This is a whole new industry in itself, and DPSUs/Private sectors may like to re-align their strategies to keep up with the domestic as well as global demands for these capabilities and platforms.
Future Perspective
Both countries have some of the best air defence systems (the Iron Dome Defense system, Arrow and THAAD from the US of Israel and S400 of India from Russia). Israel has a very efficient cybersecurity system. India and Israel are both listed among the top military global powers with their highly efficient defence weapons and Intelligence agencies. Yet, both countries encountered brutal terrorist attacks inside their territorial jurisdiction (October 7 attack on Israeli civilians and a series of terrorist attacks in India from Uri 2016 to Pulwama 2019 to recent Pahalgam, 2025). It is not the fault of the system. Instead, it is a limitation of the system. It is an old theory to completely rely on human-centred Intelligence agencies when it comes to radicalised terrorist attacks inside national boundaries. This argument highlights the seventh dimension of defence, the Psycho technological Intelligence Surveillance System.
India could collaborate with an Israel-based tech enterprise working on a “neural interpretation” apparatus that can identify possible terror activity, fraud, crime behaviour, or narcotics by recording people’s responses to a particular visual stimulus.
Neuro-Technological Surveillance
This technology entails the projection of an image that would likely be recognised solely by a terrorist onto a display. The premise is that individuals invariably exhibit reactions upon encountering a familiar visual in an incongruous setting. In the context of terrorist identification, individuals traversing the display would be surveilled predominantly by concealed cameras or sensors, which are adept at detecting minor fluctuations in bodily reactions. Additional detection mechanisms, which possess enhanced sensitivity and are currently being refined, may be incorporated in the future. The developments would start a new era of security surveillance, when instead of scanning the baggage and bodies, scanning individuals’ minds and reactions would play a crucial role. Such a technology, which is much more rapid in its functionality than other types of material detections, could serve a great benefit to densely populated countries like India, where it is not possible to detect terror possibilities and intentions with high accuracy manually. The technology could be deployed in high-risk zones, important institutions, checkpoints, and airports. The repository of visual data utilised for projection exhibits considerable variability and unpredictability, mirroring the unpredictability of the spatial context in which the images are presented; consequently, even individuals with extensive training who possess knowledge of the system can still be identified.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ongoing collaboration between India and Israel in the IT and defence sectors not only foster economic growth but also enhances security capabilities. As both countries navigate the challenges of modern technology and geopolitical threats, their partnership continues to evolve, opening new avenues for innovation and defence strategies. However, Key benefits depend on deeper and long-term ventures, exclusively focusing on next-generation advanced defence system development. Israel could benefit from a wider and more sophisticated Indian market and development units, which would further foster its Hi-tech as well as defence sector, Whereas India could expand its R&D and boost its manufacturing capabilities and mission of “Atma Nirbhar Defense”. In order to maintain a significant position in global defence powers in comparison to challenges from non-cooperative nations, both countries should focus on cooperation on next-generation dimensions of manufacturing and development.