Stop Adani’s weapons business with Israel

For the last five years, The Adani Group has been expanding from its energy business in India and Australia, to drone and weapons manufacturing with Israeli weapons manufacturers and for the Israel Defense Forces. The Adani Group claims they also used to “support the Indian Armed Forces and other paramilitary forces in India”.

Beyond manufacturing drones and weapons, Adani’s counter-drone systems are also sold to and deployed in Israel - Adani describes this product as a “Hunting Drone”. In January 2023, Israel privatised and sold the Haifa port to The Adani Group (70%) and Israel's Gadot Group (30%), providing ~US$1.6 billion to the state of Israel. Many Australian superannuation funds are invested in The Adani Group such as Australian Super, CBUS, Brighter Super, and Rest.

Adani manufactures the huge Hermes 900 drone-missile weapons with Elbit, Israel’s largest arms producer, to supply the Israel Defense Forces. 

In 2018, Adani Enterprises (the primary coal mining business of The Adani Group), and Elbit Systems (Israel’s largest arms producer) launched a joint venture, Adani Elbit Advanced Systems India Limited. Its first order was to make the Hermes 900 UAV for the Israel Defense Forces. Elbit makes 85% of the drones used by the Israel Defense Forces.

Adani-Elbit operates the only Hermes 900 production facility outside of Israel in Hyderabad, India, as well as smaller drone-missile weapons Hermes 450, Sky-Striker, and Skylark 3. Adani says “Hermes 900 is a state of the art, combat proven multi-role unmanned platform with an endurance of 36 hours, payload capacity of 420 kg, altitude of over 32,000 feet (10km+) with applications across civil, defence and homeland security.”

Hermes900 is a massive military drone that carries missiles to bomb and kill people. It is also used in “intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR)”. It was first used by Israel in the 2014 50-day attack on Gaza. The Hermes900 “also comes with electro optical and infra-red sensors, making it one of the most preferred drones of the Israeli Air Force”.

In 2023, Israel is using Hermes 900 drones to bomb Gaza and kill Palestinian people.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of a Hermes 900 drone. These drones have become a mainstay of the Israeli Air Force and have been used in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war too. File image/Reuters.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of a Hermes 900 drone. These drones have become a mainstay of the Israeli Air Force and have been used in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war too. File image/Reuters.

Adani develops and manufactures assault and sniper rifles and machine guns with Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) for the Israel Defense Forces.

In 2018, Adani announced a joint venture with Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) to manufacture “IWI weapons like TAVOR Assault Rifle, X95 Assault Rifle, GALIL Sniper Rifle, NEGEV Light Machine Gun and UZI Sub Machine Gun” in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Adani owns 51% of the company, and IWI the remaining 49%.

They called the joint venture company PLR Systems - which stands for Precise, Lethal, Reliable.

IWI was formerly owned by the State of Israel, but the Small Arms Division of IMI was privatised and renamed IWI in 2005.

In October 2022, Adani announced its business with IWI was expanding to artificial intelligence (AI) controlled weapons. Adani Defence and Aerospace and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) unveiled “India's first AI based firing system 'ARBEL’, the next-generation small arms solution” at the DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, in the Indian state of Gujarat.

Image composite: top PLR website, bottom Adani Defence Brochure (pages 8-9).  

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