The Tel Aviv-Rome military axis is strengthened

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
21/02/19

Last February 14 an agreement was signed between the Israeli and the Italian Ministry of Defense for the purchase of seven AW-119Kx helicopters for the advanced training of the Air Forces of the Tzahal, the new aircraft will replace the Bell 206 now in service for more than 40 years.

The value of the contract is equal to 350 million dollars (including the twenty-year coverage of logistics and maintenance by Leonardo) and Italy will have an equivalent in Israeli military technology.

The type of material that will be acquired by the Italian Defense is still unclear, however, the interest of the Italian Air Force for the new CAEW platforms (Coformal Airborne Early Warning) and ELINT / SIGINT (Electronic Intelligence / Signal Intelligence) is evident.

Recall that the military cooperation between Italy and Israel is part of the pact signed in 2003, finalized the interchange of armaments materials, training and training of personnel, research and development in the industrial field.

With Tel Aviv, 16 July 2012, an intergovernmental agreement was signed that provided for the sale of 30 Aermacchi M-346 from training in exchange for two Israeli radar aircraft IAI Gulfstream G550 CAEW (then valued 750 million dollars) and a OPSAT-3000 military optical satellite (rated 182 million dollars), for a total of 932 million dollars for 30 M-346.

More recently, the Navy has purchased SPIKE LR (Long Range) anti-tank missiles from Israel for the GOI (Operating Group Incursori), destined to arm the new UNPAV (High Speed ​​Multifunctional Naval Units).

Photo: MoD Israel