In the mid-90s an Indian naval specialist went to witness a Barak firing in the Mediterranean, conducted by the Israeli Navy. The target was Israel’s own Gabriel surface-to-surface missile, a sea-skimmer, that had won for Israel, the world’s first purely missile-to-missile encounter with the Egyptians in the Battle of Latakia. Our naval specialist was curious that only one Barak missile was being taken. ‘What if there is a technical malfunction, or what if its not a clean hit? Don’t you realise what’s riding on the success of this shoot?’ The Israeli specialist replied in a Hebrew version of ‘Ek goli, Ek dushman’(One bullet, one enemy.) The Gabriel, flying 6 metres above the sea, was due to be destroyed at 6 kms and was duly shot down at 5.996 kms. The Indian navy had never before seen a genuine sea-skimming missile, going full pelt six metres above the waves shot down by any system, and nor has it seen a similar feat since by any other system.

The Israelis must have been sent by divine providence to save the Indian defence budget in the early nineties. Equipment being quoted for Rs. 20 crores by a European cartel and for Rs. 18 crores by the DRDO was being offered by the Israelis for Rs. 11 crores, and their stuff was world class. The Americans of course never tendered. Suddenly India had access to weapons that had defeated the enemy in battle and world class.

One of the areas where Israel possibly saved us was in relieving the anxiety of the Indian navy about the safety of its ships against the large number of sea skimming missiles Pakistan had acquired from the US and France. All countries have a maritime strategy, except for Pakistan. Its navy, marginalised by the army, has decided that future wars with India will be like a tennis match. Forget about strategy, just get a couple of Indian ships, so the score doesn’t look bad, like say 6-2 or 6-3. In this nihilistic environment the Indian navy tried many options, mostly from Russia. Some systems were impressive, others impressively noisy, but none other than the Barak could shoot down a sea-skimming missile.

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