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| India-Israeli-made Barak-8 missile defense system |
International Military - Israeli media reported, Vietnam is looking for opportunities to acquire the Indian-Israeli-made Barak 8 missile defense system. Haaretz reported on August 18 that a delegation of top Vietnamese Ministry of Defense officials would visit Israel in September.
During the scheduled visit, Vietnamese defense officials will discuss the potential purchase of three Barak 8 surface-to-air missile defense systems from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The delegation will reportedly be led by the Deputy Commander of the Vietnamese Air Force and the country's Chief of Air Defense.
Prior to this, Vietnam had the Israeli-made Spyder air defense system purchased in 2015 from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for 600 million USD. The Vietnamese delegation is also scheduled to meet with the Chief of the Israeli Air Force, the commander in charge of Israel's air defense, and other senior Israeli defense officials.
The Barak-8 missile defense system was jointly developed by IAI, Defense Research & Development Organization of India (DRDO), Israel Research and Development Directorate (DDR&D), Elta System and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The system is designed to knock out airborne threats including helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, UAVs, anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
Barak 8 can destroy targets with precise accuracy up to a distance of 70 km. The system can be deployed on both naval and ground platforms and allows 360-degree coverage.