Israel to supply 3 Heron UAVs to Vietnam


According to the French newsletter "Intelligence online" titled "Des drones d'IAI dans le ciel vietnamien", Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) recently signed a contract with the armed forces of Vietnam to supply three unmanned aerial vehicles Heron 1 and ground control stations). The contract value is $ 140 million, which seems to be somewhat overstated for such devices. The implementation 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.


Israel to supply 3 Heron 1 UAVs to Vietnam
IAI Heron UAV (Picture source: IAI)


The contract negotiation was conducted by the intermediary company Ngoan Tahi Tahana Nann, which is considered to be very close to Vietnamese 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, Israeli arms sales 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 faced difficulties in the local market.