Israel Signed a Contract with Vietnam for the Supply of Three UAV Heron 1

10 Desember 2018

IAI Heron 1 UAV (photo : Damian F)

According to the French newsletter "Intelligence Online" in the publication "IAI drones will take to Vietnam's skies", according to the information available to the publication, the Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) recently signed a contract with the armed forces of Vietnam to supply three large unmanned aerial vehicles the duration of the flight Heron 1 and ground control station.

The contract value is $ 140 million, which seems to be somewhat overstated for such devices. The entry into force of the contract was postponed several times, but it entered into force after the visit to Vietnam of the Minister of Defense of Israel, Udi Adam. The Israeli competitor IAI - the company Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS) also participated in the tender.

According to the newspaper, the contract negotiations were led by the intermediary company Ngoan Tahi Tahana Nann, which is considered to be very close to Viet Nam Defense Minister Ngo Suan Lit. An Israeli consulting firm based in Singapore - Haya Meshel helped the Vietnamese company in this transaction.

Israeli efforts to penetrate the Vietnamese defense market are growing. Over the past decade, sales of Israeli weapons to Vietnam amounted to $ 1.5 billion. In addition to IAI, which sold Earth remote sensing satellite to Vietnam, Rafael and Elbit Systems are active in the local market. Several contracts for technical intelligence equipment were obtained by Verint, which had previously worked in Vietnam. However, this company also had difficulties in the local market.

(BMPD)