Germany extends Heron 1 leasing contract with IAI

[Zarvan]

Germany has decided to extend its leasing contract with IAI for the Heron 1, which has reached 30,000 operational flight hours in Afghanistan. Source: IAI

Germany has extended its leasing contract with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for Heron 1 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations in Afghanistan, it was announced on 26 January.

According to IAI, the Bundeswehr has renewed its leasing arrangement with the company for an additional year, taking it out to February 2018. The announcement coincided with the passing of the 30,000 hours milestone for the Bundeswehr's three Heron 1 aircraft since they began surveillance operations in support of German and coalition forces in Afghanistan in 2010.

The contract extension will see the baseline Heron 1s flying through to the introduction into German service of the larger Heron TP (again leased from IAI) which was set for early 2018, but which now will likely be delayed by a yet-to-be resolved protest from General Atomics which had offered its Reaper instead. Subject to the results of that protest, the Heron TP will serve the Bundeswehr as an interim medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAS solution until the pan-European MALE2020 system becomes operational in about 2025.

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http://www.janes.com/article/67243/germany-extends-heron-1-leasing-contract-with-iai

 

[c-dome1]

i wonder what hepend with heron tp deal