Thales has signed a contract with the Indian company Bharat Dynamics Limited for the supply of an unspecified number of air defence systems based on the Starstreak systems.
The contract was concluded during the Aero India 2025 trade fair in mid-February. It follows a cooperation agreement signed back in 2021 between Thales UK and Bharat Dynamics Limited regarding cooperation in the production of the aforementioned Starstreak anti-aircraft system.
It assumed that 60% of its production would be located in Indian industry, which has now been officially confirmed. In Thales’ announcement, the aforementioned design is referred to as the Very Short Range Air Defense system, which uses HVM missiles with a range of up to 5.5 km to eliminate air targets.
Neither the amount of the contract nor how many launchers and missiles will be delivered to India is known (deliveries are to start this year).
The system can be used as a single shoulder-mounted launcher or a stationary design with 2/3 of anti-aircraft missiles. Thus, it fits in with the need for solutions such as Stinger, Piorun or Needle-S and heavier Mistrals.
This gives soldiers greater flexibility, allowing them to be used as MANPADS or stationary anti-aircraft systems located at military bases, longer-range air defense systems or critical infrastructure.
This exciting collaboration is just one of the ways we are advancing our defence relationship and partnership with India. While supporting India’s air defence and global security capabilities, this agreement also demonstrates that defence is a driver of growth and delivers on the government’s Agenda for Change.
Author. M.Dura
Currently, the Indian army has only Russian Needle-S in this segment (the Stingers are part of the AH-64 on-board armament).
So the acquisition of the Starstreak will allow to increase the capabilities of the Indian anti-aircraft units in terms of the method of elimination and the range of destruction of targets.
The creation of the production capacity of the system in Indian industry is expected to contribute to increasing the efficiency of Thales’ plants in Belfast (Northern Ireland). It is possible that in the future this cooperation would include Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) missiles with a longer range or systems using Starster, such as RapidRanger.
In the second case, it would allow for the replacement of some of the used Arrow-10s.
The signing of this agreement with BDL and Thales to support India’s air defence capabilities is a huge step forward in strengthening our partnership with India. I am proud to see that Thales’ expertise in air defence will bring crucial combat-proven capabilities to India.
Phil Siveter, CEO of Thales UK.
Starstreak is a very short-range anti-aircraft system developed by Thales Air Defence in the second half of the 90s of the twentieth century.
It can eliminate many types of air attack means such as drones, missiles, helicopters or aircraft. The missile is guided by a laser beam and travels at a speed of Mach 3-4 (about 1100-1400 m/s) at an altitude of up to 1000 meters.
The range of destruction of targets with its use was determined to be a maximum of 5.5 km or more than 6 km with the use of Lightweight Multirole Missile missiles. Thales has also developed the Starstreak Mk II variant, with a range of “over 7 km”. Currently, this type of anti-aircraft systems are used in various configurations by countries such as the United Kingdom, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, Ukraine and Malaysia. In the future, it will also be India.
Author. Thales UK