Gee, what would Israel do without the good 'ole USA?

Phone call for Barack and Hillary, something about US strategic interests....

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Israel and Russia: once Cold War enemies, now partners-in-drone. Only the Russians want Israel to let the Kremlin in on its most powerful unmanned spy plane.

As part of a $400 million deal the two countries inked last fall, Israel just sent its first round of twelve drones to Russia. Included are the short-range Bird-Eye 400 and I-View Mk 150, as well as the Searcher II — a 300-kilometer range spy plane that Israel’s used in Lebanon to spy on Hezbollah from as high as 23,000 feet.

But what Russia’s really after, according to SpaceDaily and Jane’s, is the Heron TP. Also known as the Eitan, the Heron’s a powerful drone. It carries up to 1000 kilograms’ worth of sensors; flies at over 40,000 feet; stays aloft for up to 36 hours; and can perform complex tasks like midair refueling. And it’s a lethal one, too, capable of firing air-to-ground missiles.

Under last year’s deal, Russia will get the earlier, unarmed model of the Heron. But the Russians want to manufacture the Heron TP independently. It’s not hard to see why. As SpaceDaily notes, the Russian air fleet has fallen into disrepair, having barely received any new fighter aircraft since 1994. The once-fearsome Russian military-industrial complex is moribund enough that short-range nuclear weapons are actually a favored method for Russia to project military force. Tiny Georgia made such good use of advances in drone tech — purchased from the Israelis — during the 2008 summer war with Russia that Moscow promptly inked deals with Jerusalem to get up to speed on the revolution in unmanned aircraft.

It’s uncertain whether the Israelis will want Russia to be able to build and operate a drone it just started flying in 2006. But Israel has made aggressive diplomatic use of Russia’s desire to get out of the drone dark ages. WikiLeaks revealed that the prospect of Israel-Russia drone sales — and Israeli intimations of military cooperation with Georgia — helped convince the Russians not to sell Iran a powerful air-defense system.

There are more opportunities for follow-up pressure: Russia is still scheduled to sell Israeli foe Syria a powerful anti-ship missile, the P800 Yakhont. And the Israelis have proven capable at getting the Russians to think that arms sales to Israel’s enemies — once a Cold War given — aren’t worth losing access to Israel’s advanced drone technology. Could a Russian-made Heron TP be the latest instance of that trend?

See Also:

• Israel, Russia in Drone Deal; Laser Tech Next?
• Russians in the Market for Israeli Drones
• Blocked! WikiLeaks Shows How Iran’s Air Defense Deal Died [Updated …
• Robot Planes, Life-and-Death Choices Over Gaza