NATO Country Orders $200M IAI Special Mission Aircraft

An undisclosed NATO member country has contracted Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to deliver a special mission aircraft in a deal worth $200 million.

IAI subsidiary ELTA Systems will develop the aircraft as part of a larger deal for the European nation, Janes revaled, citing a company source who declined to identify the customer.

The source also declined to identify the type of aircraft. IAI-ELTA offers four types of special mission aircraft: airborne early warning & control, air-to-ground surveillance, maritime patrol aircraft, and signals intelligence.

The company claims to be one of the few in the world with the know-how to build such aircraft “due to miniaturized sensor technologies alongside developing algorithms and software applications based on artificial intelligence, on the basis of which the highly advanced intelligence systems are integrated on business jets.”