Georgia war prompted Russian purchase of Israeli drones
April 10, 2009 1 Comment
By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Much was made last week of an agreement between the Russian government and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to purchase three Israeli-made intelligence-gathering drones. The Israeli company will receive $50 million to supply the Russian military with three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), namely a Bird-Eye 400 mini, an I-view MK 150 tactical, and a Searcher MK II medium-range UAV. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the deal last Friday, saying it needed the new generation UAVs “to provide battlefield reconnaissance to the country’s armed forces”. What the Ministry didn’t say, however, is that it was prompted to purchase the Israeli-made drones after it saw its operations severely hampered by lack of aerial intelligence during the 2008 South Ossetia war last August. Read more of this post
Obama administration approves new spy satellite program
April 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment
By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Very few media outlets picked up last week news of an oral approval by Obama administration officials of a new spy satellite program that will further blur the line between private and US Pentagon satellite imagery provision. The new plan, provisionally called “2-plus-2”, is said to replace the fiasco of Boeing Corporation’s delayed and hugely over-budget Future Imagery Architecture reconnaissance project, which the DoD terminated in 2005. The DoD now appears poised to punish Boeing by awarding 2-plus-2 “to Lockheed without a competitive bidding process”, later this year. Under the new plan, whose initial budget Pentagon officials have refused to reveal, includes building from scratch two state-of-the-art satellites for Pentagon use. It also stipulates increased collaboration between the Pentagon and private satellite imagery providers, such as DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, who currently pocket approximately $25 million a month from the Pentagon. Notably, the new contract has a “guaranteed access” stipulation, which gives the Pentagon “top priority and the ability to direct the satellites if there is a war or another emergency”. The contract is subject to Congressional approval, but intelligence officials have said they are “confident it will pass”.
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2-pus-2, Boeing Corporation, DigitalGlobe, Future Imagery Architecture, GeoEye, intelligence outsourcing, Lockheed Martin, National Reconnaissance Office, News, satellite reconnaissance, United States, US DoD