Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) has signed the second stage of a huge deal with an Asian country, which makes the deal the largest in the company's history - $1.6 billion.
IAI notified the TASE on Sunday about the first stage of the deal for the supply of a range of arms system for $1.1 billion to an Asian country. It did not disclose the name of the country or the systems to be supplied.
IAI will supply unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), state-of-the-art missiles, including sea-to-sea missiles, and sophisticated radar systems, including the Green Pine, made by IAI's Elta Systems subsidiary, which is part of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system.
IAI will supply the systems over four years. The second $500 million deal was signed after IAI met the customer's demand for guarantees, and the procedures for their approval were completed.
The deal surpasses the $1.4 billion contract with India signed two years ago for the supply of Barak ship defense missiles and other defense systems.
A confidential client
At the request of the customer in the present deal, the details of the country have been kept confidential, and IAI and the defense establishment are not disclosing its identity. However, this is the first time that the country has signed a contract with IAI, a fact which itself indicates the complexity of the deal and the need for confidence building measures by the parties
Defense establishment sources involved in the deal said that IAI representatives recently held intensive negotiations with the unnamed country's team, after two years of talks. IAI CEO Yitzhak Nissan handled the critical stages of the negotiations.
In an earlier report about the deal, "Globes" incorrectly said that the customer was India.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 12, 2012
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