Ares Defense Blog at Aviation Week reports a possible $12 million arms deal between Israel and Russia, with Israel supplying 100 of its Hermes 450 UAVs. The Hermes 450 has multi-payload capacity, as well as real-time intelligence capabilities. Russia encountered the UAV in its conflict with Georgia, which had previously bought some from Israel.
Hmm, selling advanced UAVs to Russia, the main arms supplier of Israel's Arab (and Persian) enemies. What could go wrong? I can understand the Israeli armaments industry's desire to reach new markets, but Putin's Russia is a terrible choice. Why not just sell some to Syria and Iran while they are at it?
For a country that takes $3 billion a year from Uncle Sam, Israel has a remarkably cordial relationship with various anti-American regimes. About ten years ago, it wanted to sell planes it had bought from the US to China, until the US told it to stop.
ReplyDeleteChina I could see more than Russia, although I'd rather neither. I wonder though, I'll bet some of our U.S. companies would cheerfully sell arms to Russia if they thought they could get away with it.
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