The Israeli Ministry of Defense is conducting an investigation against Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS), a company manufacturing unmanned drones, a correspondent for the Russian Komersant, Kiril Krivosheev, says in a recent article.
In an earlier report, the Israeli Maariv expressed concerns that the company’s employees based in Tel Aviv might have joined the airstrikes against Armenian defense positions in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in April 2016. Though the company dismisses the accusations, the cooperation with Azerbaijan has been long known as an accomplished fact, writes the Russian journalist.
The specialists managing the drone were earlier reported to have rejected the offer, leaving the task to top representatives of the company.
A complaint filed recently with the Ministry claims that the Aeronautics Defense Systems team, which left for Azerbaijan to conclude the Orbiter 1K drone’s sales agreement, was asked target an Armenian military objective by using the system.
According to the Israeli publication, the two Israeli specialists operating the drone refused to conduct the deadly airstrike, standing firmly their ground even after facing personal threats. High-ranking representatives of the company later moved to equip and use the vehicle themselves. Due to a lack of experience, however, the two unmanned vehicles did not hit the right target, falling short of inflicting material or human damage. The document claimed that one of the vehicles hit an object lying 100 meters away from Armenian defense positions.
One of the specialists has reportedly left the company, with the other planning to step down soon.
Krivosheev cites the Armenian media reports confirming July 7 as the day of the attack (citing their own sources). Azerbaijan’s defense office has issued no official statement in that connection; neither did they respond to Komersant.
The Israeli ministry also refrained from comments. “The Ministry of Defense does not normally comment upon reports addressing military exports. The issue is in the process of verification by the corresponding the Defense Ministry departments,” reads the agency’s response.
“Even if engineers of Aeronautics Defense Systems left for Azerbaijan, they weren’t accompanied by Israeli scientists,” the Ministry added.
The Komersant source close to the Israeli government described the news story in Maariv as an “extraordinary” report. “Nothing of the kind had ever happened before. The non-interference principle applying to foreign conflicts is of a pivotal value for the Israeli military industries. I do want to believe the report will not be confirmed. Should, however, it prove true, the military agency will certainly enforce sanctions against the company.”
No known specific timeframes for concluding the investigation are reported.
The website notes that Azerbaijan made its first use of Israeli unmanned drones under military conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2016. After the end of the confrontations on April 14, the Israeli-Armenian Diaspora conducted a protest outside the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, making calls for ending the weapons sale to the country.
“The need to halt Azerbaijan’s armament is our community’s coordinated decision. As for the article in Maariv, we are waiting until the investigation comes to a close, as there is no common opinion here. Some Armenians think the operators who refused to hit a strike are real heroes. Others do not believe the newspaper, doubting that it is just an attempt to spoil the Armenian-Israeli relations which have quite improved recently,” Artyom Chernamoryan, the head of the local Armenian NGO Nairi, is quoted as telling Komersant.
The website further cites Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s 2016 statement saying that the country signed US $5 billion worth military industry agreements with Israel last December (adding that most of the deals have been already accomplished). The military agreements implemented between Moscow and Baku over the past five years are worth an estimated $ 4 billion or more, according to the publication.