Leftist propaganda portal The Wire published a self-proclaimed ‘investigative’ piece on 17th April, ‘uncovering’ the facts already out in the public domain about the Adani Defence and Aerospace’s joint venture with Israeli defence manufacturer Elbit Systems to manufacture unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The leftist propaganda outlet insinuated that the Modi government abstaining from the UN’s April 2024 resolution for the Gaza ceasefire was somehow linked to Adani’s drone exports to Israel. It further claimed that Adani Group has in February this year exported 20 Hermes 900 drones to Israel which would be used by Israeli forces in its war in Palestine.
The Wire in its article titled: “India’s Refusal to Back UN Arms Embargo on Israel May Be Linked to Adani Drone Exports” claimed that the Central government abstained on a resolution at the Human Rights Council on 5th April that called on Israel for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and called on states to implement an arms embargo, since it would harm India’s defence export interests in Israel.
The Wire claimed that the Indian government took a U-turn this time since it voted in favour of a UN resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on 12th December last year. The propaganda portal, however, did not mention that unlike the resolution adopted on 5th April, the terms of the December resolution did not call upon states to stop defence sales and transfers including those of arms, munitions, and military equipment to Israel or surveillance goods and technologies and less-lethal weapons including dual-use items.
Coming back to Adani drone sales and Israel, The Wire’s founder Siddharth Varadrajan in an X post presented the propaganda piece as more of an ‘exposé’ on Adani drone sales.
“EXCLUSIVE—R Ramachandran investigates extent of Adani drone sales. Company is coy about destination but customer is Israel. Fun fact: Adani tells The Wire drones are for ‘non combat’ use! MoD ‘munitions’ licensing tells another story. #Genocide_in_Gaza,” Varadrajan posted.
In another post, he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani of extending the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“Papa warr bhi badhane ka kaam kar rahein hain, itne acche hain hamare Modiji aur unke best friend Adaniji!” Varadrajan wrote on X.
In its pursuit to establish their sinister narrative that somehow Adani Group and the Modi government are helping Israel in the ongoing war, The Wire claimed that Adani Defence and Aerospace exported 20 Hermes 900 UAVs to Israel without the approval of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Notably, in 2016, Adani Defence and Aerospace and Israeli defence manufacturer Elbit Systems had formed a joint venture— Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd to manufacture Hermes 900 Medium Altitude Long Endurance unmanned aerial vehicles in India. In 2018, the Adani Elbit JV opened its first UAV manufacturing facility in Telangana’s Hyderabad. The version of the Hermes 900 made in India by the JV is called Drishti 10.
While the Indian armed forces are the primary customer of the company, it is free to export the drones too. Since the two companies have a joint venture, it is not surprising if the JV terms also included guaranteed orders as pointed out by IndiaToday journalist Shiv Aroor.
Not sure what’s there to ‘investigate’ here. The Adani Group literally has a JV with Israeli drone firm Elbit that assembles drones in Telangana. Guaranteed orders likely in the JV terms. I understand the need to go after Adani, but this is clown-level stuff. 🤦🏽♂️ pic.twitter.com/Edcfm7DDaD
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 18, 2024
Back in 2018, it was reported that Adani Group had received an order to manufacture Hermes 900 UAVs for the Israeli Defence Forces. Thus, The Wire is somehow ‘investigating’ something that is already out in the open.
The Wire quotes unconfirmed reports to claim that Adani Defence and Aerospace is exporting drones to Israel for its war in Gaza
Interestingly, The Wire quoted an Adani Defence and Aerospace Ltd press statement from 2020 which read: “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, defense and homeland security.
The leftist portal emphasised the specifications of Hermes 900 to make the case that dual-use UAVs and drones are subject to specific regulations that apply to all SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) exports. Notably, drones and UAVs come under Category 5B of the SCOMET List.
The Wire claimed that it examined the minutes of Inter-ministerial Working Group (IMWG) meetings between January 2015 and March 2024 to find if any Adani-Elbit’s application, or approval/denial for export of SCOMET item.
It then cited an Adani Defence and Aerospace spokesperson’s response to their query, The Wire said that the defence manufacturer somehow ‘admitted’ to not having obtained a SCOMET licence since the spokesperson reportedly said that “Adani Defence exported aero-structures and subsystems of 20+ Drishti 10 UAVs for surveillance and reconnaissance missions (non-combat) between 2019 and 2023. It is reiterated that these drones are purpose-built for surveillance and reconnaissance missions and can’t be used for attack roles,” adding that as per Ministry of Defence guidelines, the company took due permissions from the Department of Defence Production for the deliveries.
Interestingly, citing several media reports from February 2024, The Wire report said Adani Defence and Aerospace exported 20 Drishti 10 UAVs to Israel to insinuate that Israel is using India-made drones in its war in Gaza. However, neither Elbit nor Adani Defence and Aerospace have confirmed the claim first made in the Shephard Media report. The Wire’s report relies more on its insinuations and outpour of sympathy for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas than facts.
The Wire report lamented that since Adani spokesperson reportedly told them that the due permissions were obtained from the Department of Defence Production for the export of 20 Drishti 10 drones, it will eventually be used by Israeli forces for military use, despite the spokesperson saying that these drones are purpose-built for surveillance and reconnaissance missions and cannot be used for attack roles. It claimed that even if not for dropping bombs, “their surveillance and reconnaissance operations can potentially assist the armed forces and thus be used in combat.”
On one hand, The Wire insinuates that Adani did not obtain a SCOMET licence and DGFT approval, on the other it also asserts that the 20 Drishti 10 drones will be used by Israel for military operations since the permission for its export was taken from DDP and not DFGT since ‘Surveillance and Reconnaissance’ is categorised as “military use”. However, regardless of the purpose it is used for, capturing images and videos from high altitudes or a distance is the basic role of any drone. The Surveillance data gathered by the drones can be used for combat operations, but that does not mean that the Drishti 10 drones are being actively used in combat, as Wire is trying to insinuate.
The important point to note is Hermes 900 is an Israeli drone, and Israeli defence forces already use a large number of Hermes 900 drones and its earlier versions like Hermes 450 drones made by Elbit in Israel. Hermes is actually one of the most widely used military drones in the world, and several countries have bought the drone for their forces.
It is pertinent to mention that Adani Defence and Aerospace’s spokesperson did not mention where the 20 Drishti 10 drones were exported. Even though this is not unusual, The Wire used this to assert that the company is coy about the country where these UAVs were exported.
The Wire dog whistling Islamists and leftist ecosystem to attack Adani to globalise their anti-Adani campaign
After the Indian public refused to buy the Congress party’s sinister anti-Adani campaign aimed at projecting Gautam Adani as a rich villain and PM Modi as a corrupt crony capitalist leader, The Wire has decided to undertake the mammoth task. The above-discussed article by the propaganda outlet makes it clear that The Wire is hell-bent on vilifying the Adani Group and drawing the attention of global Islamists towards its apocryphal narrative that Adani is somehow helping Israel in its war against ‘innocent’ Palestinians. For this, the propaganda outlet has qualms in passing off its imaginations and insinuations and ‘investigation’.
It appears to be a part of a sinister plan to bring down Adani and cause disruption in the Indian economy which is treading its ambitious path towards becoming the third-largest economy by 2030. From sea and airport management, electricity generation and transmission, mining, natural gas, food, and defence to infrastructure, the Adani conglomerate has become a key player and is significantly contributing to India’s growth alongside providing employment opportunities.
Furthermore, reports say that Adani Group is the most trusted source of energy resources in India, owning eight airports that account for roughly 25% of airline passenger traffic and 33% of cargo, building several data centres across the country, has contracts of laying over 5,000 km of roads, and manufacturing solar and wind equipment for the country’s renewable energy ambitions. Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) is also building the world’s largest renewable energy project, Khavda Renewable Energy Park.
Given the presence of the Adani conglomerate in various sectors, its collapse would cause irreparable damage to India’s economy and its related ambitions.
Left-liberals and their Adani hate
This is not the first time that the left-liberal ecosystem has attacked the Adani Group. It is worth recalling how in January 2023, Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of fraud and stock price manipulation. The charges were denied by Gautam Adani who claimed that no regulatory failure was found by the expert committee which was constituted by the Supreme Court. The Adani Group has dismissed the Hindenburg report as a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations’. To the joy of the left-liberals, short-sellers report had caused significant damage to the Adani Group. Moreover, Adani’s wealth had also seen a dip as he lost one-third of his total fortune in just a month after the controversy as his net worth dropped below $40 billion in February last year. Since then, however, Adani has bounced back becoming the richest Indian in the Bloomberg Index in January this year.
Despite the best efforts of the usual anti-development and anti-Modi forces, the Supreme Court in January this year ruled that it could not interfere with the regulatory framework or use the Hindenburg report as a justification for launching an SIT investigation. After the Hindenburg controversy failed to cause lasting damage to the Adani Group, the leftist media is desperately finding new ways to attack the business mammoth.
