Germany approves Heron-TP purchase

Germany's parliament on June 13 approved a €1 billion ($1.17 billion) deal to lease Heron-TP unmanned air vehicles manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The approval puts an end to a long-running saga that has seen protests from rival bidders and politicians opposed to the acquisition of the potentially-armed UAVs.Airbus Defence and Space will receive €720 million from the deal and will lease seven UAVs from IAI, two of which will be used for training purposes. The Heron-TP will allow the German army to carry out long endurance intelligence-gathering missions. It will eventually be replaced by the tri-national European MALE development in the mid-2020s. A German court last year rejected a protest against the Heron-TP selection by rival bidder General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.