Turkish authorities also spoke about the delivery of the Herons to Turkey with Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who is paying an official visit to Turkey. As a result of the talks, important points of contention have reportedly been removed between the two countries.
Israeli authorities claimed that it takes time to install the technology Turkey wants in the Herons; however, Israel announced that Herons produced for Turkey have successfully met all performance criteria. The two sides will discuss only the details of the delivery and the final phase of the production of the Herons. A period of 45-50 days has been set to finish the entire process, and Turkey expects to receive the last generation Herons during the first three months of 2010.
With the delivery of the Israeli-made Herons extended, Turkey launched the production of its own unmanned aerial vehicles, though of significantly lower quality. Israel was supposed to deliver 10 Herons last year according to the $185 million agreement signed in 2005 with Israel. Turkey is preparing to finish the production of the Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles (TİHA) by 2011. They will be able to target objects from an altitude of 10,000 meters.
