Philippines orders various UAVs from Israel

The Skylark 1-LEX tactical mini UAV from Elbit Systems.

The Philippines' Department of National Defense (DND) has awarded a contract to Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd. for the supply of various models of Unmanned Aerial Systems for the Philippine Army (PA) in a deal worth PHP8 billion (US$154 million).

According to Filipino defense page MaxDefense Philippines, the contract signed in early June 2019 involves the order for "several hundreds" of Elbit's THOR multirotor mini UAV, "several dozens" of the Skylark 1-LEX mini UAV, several Skylark 3 light UAVs, and an unspecified number of the Hermes 450 medium altitude long endurance UAV.

The UAVs are acquired as part of a larger C4ISTAR requirements of the PA, which aims to improve the battlespace situational awareness and targetting systems.

In a separate development, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is also awaiting for Elbit Systems to deliver an earlier order for large Hermes 900 and Hermes 450 UAVs which eill be used for maritime and battlefield surveillance. The first batch are expected to arrive by 2019, and will continue delivery until 2021.


[1] MaxDefense Philippines
[2] Globes Business News