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Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has deployed Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), each equipped with the same sensors the Israeli military uses to collect intelligence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli-made Aerostar UAVs were provided under a 2002 contract between Moscow-based Irkut and Aeronautics Defense Systems, Yavne, Israel, and are valued at tens of millions of dollars.
News of the heretofore undisclosed contract was first published in Sept. 19 issues of Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest daily newspaper, and subsequently confirmed to Defense News by Aeronautics. Company spokeswoman Irit Ovadia declined to provide additional details of the contract, but noted that Aeronautics “continues to work†with its Russian customer on the two-year-old deal. An Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) source also confirmed the existence of the contract, and noted Sept. 20 that it represented the first sale of an Israeli UAV system to Russia, which rarely purchases non-Russian-made weaponry.
The MoD source added that the UAVs sold to Russia are equipped with the same day-and-night observation system selected by the MoD for contractor-provided surveillance missions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The system, built by Controp Precision Technologies, Hod Hasharon, Israel, was deployed from 2001 through 2003 on Aeronautics’ Aerostar UAV under a leasing arrangement, whereby MoD pays only for flight hours of imagery collection. However, in a follow-on outsourcing contract awarded by the MoD in August 2003, the Controp payload was reassigned to the Searcher UAV built by Israel’s government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries.
The Aerostar UAV sold to Russia is designed for day and night flights of more than eight hours, at altitudes of up to 15,000 feet.
http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=363654
The Israeli-made Aerostar UAVs were provided under a 2002 contract between Moscow-based Irkut and Aeronautics Defense Systems, Yavne, Israel, and are valued at tens of millions of dollars.
News of the heretofore undisclosed contract was first published in Sept. 19 issues of Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest daily newspaper, and subsequently confirmed to Defense News by Aeronautics. Company spokeswoman Irit Ovadia declined to provide additional details of the contract, but noted that Aeronautics “continues to work†with its Russian customer on the two-year-old deal. An Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) source also confirmed the existence of the contract, and noted Sept. 20 that it represented the first sale of an Israeli UAV system to Russia, which rarely purchases non-Russian-made weaponry.
The MoD source added that the UAVs sold to Russia are equipped with the same day-and-night observation system selected by the MoD for contractor-provided surveillance missions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The system, built by Controp Precision Technologies, Hod Hasharon, Israel, was deployed from 2001 through 2003 on Aeronautics’ Aerostar UAV under a leasing arrangement, whereby MoD pays only for flight hours of imagery collection. However, in a follow-on outsourcing contract awarded by the MoD in August 2003, the Controp payload was reassigned to the Searcher UAV built by Israel’s government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries.
The Aerostar UAV sold to Russia is designed for day and night flights of more than eight hours, at altitudes of up to 15,000 feet.
http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=363654
