While the UK may have drastically downsized its arms sales to Israel, this hasn’t prevented Israeli firms from selling advanced weapons technology to Britain.
Elbit, the Israeli aerospace giant, announced that it has just signed a $70 million deal to provide maintenance and logistical support for the lucrative Watchkeeper project. The project is the largest unmanned aircraft system in the world and is being designed to provide UK armed forces with essential intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities.
The announcement came the very day the Watchkeeper drone made its maiden test flight, logging 20 minutes in the air in Wales. The Watchkeeper is a derivative of the highly-successful Israeli-designed and built Hermes 450 and is a sign of how the two countries’ defense industries are collaborating on new weapons systems.
The deal was being worked out through U-TacS, a joint venture formed by Elbit Systems and the British Thales. It follows on to a $500 million order to produce about 100 Watchkeeper drones for the British Army, which it expects to deploy heavily in its regiments in the future.
But until they are ready, U-TacS has been providing the British Army with the Israeli Hermes 450s, where they have been deployed in ongoing operations in Afghanistan.
They have flown more than 30,000 operational hours there so far, according to a press release from Elbit.
The Watchkeeper UAV is expected to stay airborne for more than 16 hours and provide surveillance in all-weather conditions, day and night. It is also reportedly to be equipped with target designator lasers and radar imagery.
British arms and weapons technology sales to Israel, however, have been kept quiet, particularly since last year’s public refusal to supply replacement parts and other equipment for the Israeli navy since its ships had participated in the offensive against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
British policy forbids the use of its exports in the land acquired by Israel in the 1967 war. London does not call see this as a “partial embargo,” yet sales reportedly amounted to just $30 million last year.
Furthermore, the UAV maintenance deal comes amid tensions in Anglo-Israel relations over the alleged use by the Mossad of British passports in the assassination of a Hamas member in Dubai.
The British Embassy in Tel Aviv declined to comment on defense sales policy to Israel.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.