Israel has stepped up the negotiation talks with Italy for the purchase of new helicopters from the Italian firm Leonardo on a condition of reciprocal defense procurement between the governments
Leonardo is offering to sell its new training helicopters to Israel, with Elbit Systems being Leonardo's subcontractor in the project. US company Bell and European company Airbus are also competing in this helicopters contract, with their own advanced training helicopters. The deal is expected to amount to $350 million.
However, the report by Globes says IMOD's Director General, Maj. Gen. (res.) Udi Adam had ordered teams involved in the process to seriously consider the Italian option, because of a "window of opportunity" recently opened for a possible government-to-government (G2G) deal between the countries, in which the Italian government will agree to reciprocal defense procurement from Israel.
"The negotiations with the Italian Ministry of Defense and with Leonardo are reaching a peak, and the Ministry of Defense is making it clear that no deal will be signed until all its elements, including the reciprocal procurement from Israeli defense industries, are signed. The deal will be brought to the Ministry of Defense director general for approval only after the detailed negotiations for all the deals are completed," the ministry said.
According to the plan, the Israeli Air Force will receive eight training helicopters and simulator systems. The new helicopters are to replace the existing Bell 206 training helicopters (IAF designation Sayfan) which it has used since the 1970s.
[Source: Defense World]