Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin confirmed on Friday that his ministry has signed a $50 million deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to buy several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). It is Moscow's first purchase of military hardware from the Jewish State. Popovkin did not name IAI by name, telling a Moscow news conference, "A contract has been concluded with an Israeli firm for supplies of pilotless aircraft. I was in Israel and even operated them."
The Russian business paper Kommersant reported on Tuesday that the models are the Bird-Eye 400 (10-km range), the I-view MK150 tactical UAV (100 km) and Searcher MK II medium-range UAV (250 km). Media reports say Russia was denied sale of the Heron and similar sensitive classes of UAVs made by IAI, under pressure from the United States.
"Russian purchases of drones from Israel will not be limited to this particular deal," Kommersant noted. "The Russian Army needs about 50-100 UAVs and 10 control complexes."
Popovkin said that buying foreign spy drones was a temporary measure, and that the purchases are designed "to show our industry what it [a spy drone] is." Russian defense companies, including the MiG corporation, the Russian Helicopters and the Vega Radio Engineering Corp., have failed so far to provide the military with effective spy drones.
The effectiveness of Russian military operations was severely hampered by the lack of reliable intelligence during the conflict with Georgia last August. Georgia used drones made by Israel's Elbit Systems
Russian Air Force Commander Alexander Zelin said last year that Russia would deploy advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with a flight range of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles) and a flight duration capability of up to 12 hours by 2011.