Ankara, December 18: Turkey may take Israel to an international arbitration court over the Heron unmanned air vehicle (UAV) it purchased from Tel Aviv, a report says.
Under the 185-million-dollar deal for Heron drones struck in 2005, the Israel Aerospace Industry and Elbit promised to deliver the UAVs in May 2008, but the drones did not arrive until October 2009.
After the one-and-a-half-year delay, they were used in Turkey’s operations against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) this November. They were later transferred to the Unmanned Air Vehicles Center in Batman, where they were examined by aviation engineers. The tests revealed that the UAVs do not comply with the tender specifications required by Turkey.
The Herons failed to fly up to 30,000 feet as specified in the tender’s terms. Their maximum height was proven to be 22,000 feet. There were also reports of problems with the control mechanism of the planes during landing. The flight duration of the Herons was specified as 52 hours, yet they also failed the flight duration tests.
The UAVs were accordingly returned to Israel on November 30. The manufacturer was granted fifty days to fix their problems as noted by Turkey. Israel, however, has yet to broach the issue despite the approaching of its mid-January deadline.
“If Israel fails to carry out its obligations under the tender agreement by the end of the 50-day period, Turkey will seek international arbitration. We don’t want to take this to court. But we will if we have to. We will have no other option unless the Israeli manufacturer fulfills its obligations,” a Defense Ministry source speaking on condition of anonymity told Today’s Zaman on Thursday.
Israel also blames ASELSAL — the electronic systems installed on the UAVs — for disrupting the drones’ aero-elastic stability, causing the planes to fail the performance tests.
Turkey does not accept the argument, saying that the manufacturer knew the specifications of the ASELSAL navigation system when the deal was sealed.
——Agencies