Russian defense firm Oboronprom is to use Israeli components to assemble unmanned aerial vehicles, primarily intended for civilian customers, at a helicopter plant in Tatarstan.
The Russian military first showed an interest in buying Israeli-made UAVs back in 2008, after admiring their performance during the five-day war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia. In April 2009, Russia signed a $53 million contract for 12 Bird-Eye 400, I-View MK150 and Searcher Mark II UAVs.
The Russian Defense Ministry later bought another 36 Israeli UAVs for $100 million and announced the planned purchase of 15 more UAVs in April 2010.
In early 2010 it was reported that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was also planning to buy Israeli UAVs. Unlike the Russian army, which was in talks with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the FSB was interested in UAVs made by the company Aeronautics.
The Russian law-enforcement and security agencies' explanation of their interest in Israeli UAVs as being down to the lack of competitive Russian-made equivalents provoked an outcry among Russian UAV producers. They accused the Defense Ministry of lobbying for the interests of foreign producers.
The reality is, of course, more complicated. Recently, after spending over 5 billion rubles ($165 million) on work in this area, the Defense Ministry carried out trials of Russia's best UAVs. The results were disappointing: not a single UAV satisfied the defense ministry's specifications.
RIA Novosti
