Israel to supply Jordan with drones to help fight Islamic State: report

I24 NEWS – As part of a new deal, Israel will supply Jordan with strategic and tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in order to help combat the Islamic State, according to a local media report.

According to a report by the Israeli DEBKA file website, the deal will include Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron TP strategic and Elbit Systems Skylark tactical drones.

The report comes after a US official said last month that Israel gave retired US-supplied Cobra combat helicopters to Jordan to help the Hashemite kingdom fend off insurgent threats on the Syrian and Iraqi borders.

The handover, initiated last year, was approved by Washington, which provided mechanical overhauls for the aircraft before they were incorporated free of charge in Jordan’s existing Cobra fleet, the official said.

“These choppers are for border security,” the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters.

Israel and Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, last month hosted US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who offered reassurances about the regional fight against Islamic State and the July 14 international deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel originally had two Cobra squadrons – each consisting of around 30 of the aircraft, which are designed to back ground troops with aerial surveillance as well as machine gun and rocket fire, and to be nimble enough to elude surface-to-air missiles.

One of the squadrons was disbanded in the mid-2000s and the other in 2013, with Israel’s air force preferring the more powerful, US-supplied Apache helicopters also in its fleet and an expanded role for its thrifty and versatile pilotless drones.

The Jordanian air force has 25 Cobras in service, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. The Cobra’s manufacturer is Bell Helicopter, a Textron company.

Following Egypt, Jordan made peace with Israel in 1994. But the countries had maintained discreet security ties dating back to the early 1970s and Israel has pledged to step in should Amman be threatened by Islamic State or other insurgents rampaging elsewhere in the Middle East.