Licenses Suspended for Israeli Dronemaker Accused of Bombing Armenia for Azerbaijan

• 01.27.2019, 20:05
•  Region,  Near East,  World,  NKR

Israel’s Defense Ministry on Sunday suspended the export licenses of three senior officials from an aircraft manufacturer suspected of testing one of its "suicide drones" against the Armenian military in 2017 at the behest of its client Azerbaijan in violation of Israeli law, The Times of Israel reports. 

The publicly traded company, Aeronautics Ltd., informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange of the development on Sunday. The Defense Ministry later confirmed that it was blocking the export licenses of three senior officials in the company - CEO Amos Matan, deputy CEO Meir Rizmovitch and a third, unnamed, employee - pending a formal hearing.

"They will not be able to work in marketing or defense exports with outside officials," the company said.

This suspension will remain in effect until a verdict is rendered in the case against them.

In August 2017, the reports emerged that the company was suspected of using the Orbiter 1K kamikaze drone to attack Armenian forces in Karabakh during a demonstration for Azeri officials. A copy of the complaint was first leaked to the Maariv newspaper.

The two Israelis operating the two Orbiter 1K drones during the test refused to carry out the attack, despite threats from their superiors, Maariv reported.

Two higher-ranking members of the Aeronautics Defense Systems delegation in Baku then attempted to carry out the Azerbaijani request, but, lacking the necessary experience, did not directly hit their targets, the report said.