(Globes) Yuval Azulai - The German Federal Ministry of Defense and the Airbus Defense and Space company have signed a contract with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) for the operation of Heron 1 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for use by the German air force in Mali in West Africa. Airbus will operate the UAVs in a model similar to the one in which it has operated IAI's UAVs for the German air force in Afghanistan since 2010. Under the new agreement, IAI will lease several UAV systems starting in November and until the beginning of 2018 for intelligence gathering purposes. The Heron 1 UAVS used by Airbus in Germany's warfare in Afghanistan have accumulated over 27,000 flight hours, and were involved in thousands of missions. Another substantial contract between IAI and the German army is waiting in the wings. This EUR 580 million agreement involves the operation of advanced Heron TP, UAVs IAI's most advanced UAVs. In this deal, the UAVs will be leased until a new European UAV is developed, a program that will be completed only several years from now.
2016-07-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive