Russian Ministry of Defense may acquire a large batch of UAVs and 24 control units from Aeronautics Defense Systems (Israel), BFM.ru reports. «Eight control units for each of the following UAVs: Orbiter 2, Aerostar and Skystar», - said a source familiar with the matter.

According to him, one such control unit may service 2 or 3 UAVs, thus the number of acquired vehicles may vary from 48 to 72 ones. He also added that the amount of this contract may reach $53 million. He noted that Russia is considering the acquisition of Israeli UAVs for its army, because national industry has not developed and launched serial production of such vehicles yet. «The acquisition of Israeli UAVs may significantly increase the combat effectiveness of our army», - the source believes.

According to the expert in the area of UAVs, Denis Fedutinov, Russia has systems similar to Orbiter 2 by their performance. For example, “Eleron-10” made by Eniks Company, «Irkut-10» by Irkut-Engineering and «Orlan-10» by STTs Company.

A top-ranking representative of the military-industrial sector said last summer that Russia was not financing development of military UAVs for the last two years. According to him, this decision is caused by long-drawn analysis performed by the Ministry of Defense, while its experts are occupied with customization of Israeli UAVs acquired two years ago.

Israel Aerospace Industries has delivered to Russia two Bird Eye-400, eight I-View Mk150 and two Searcher Mk2 UAVs earlier (the total amount of this contract was $53 million).