A $2.3 billion mystery: Israeli defense giant announces major arms sale with no details
Elbit's eight-year “strategic solution” contract hides the buyer, the equipment, and even the continent involved.
A day before the publication of its third-quarter financial earnings, Elbit Systems has announced a major deal worth $2.3 billion.
The defense company is not providing many details about the new agreement. According to the report submitted to the stock exchange, it is an international contract that includes a "strategic solution" to be supplied over eight years. Elbit did not disclose the identity of the customer, the continent in which it operates, or which weapons systems are included in the deal.
Elbit develops and manufactures a wide range of systems that could fit the definition of a “strategic solution,” from self-propelled artillery guns with ranges of tens of kilometers, to unmanned aircraft, precision rocket launcher systems (PULS) with ranges between 30 and 300 kilometers, and more. It often sells several systems together as part of a comprehensive solution package to customers seeking to upgrade military capabilities end-to-end, significantly expanding the scope of its transactions.
This past summer, Elbit issued another vague report about a massive $1.63 billion deal with a European country that would purchase Hermes 900 drones, its largest UAVs, along with precision missiles, electronic-warfare tools, and command-and-control systems designed to improve battlefield command capabilities. Calcalist later reported that the country in question was Serbia.
The new multibillion-dollar deal announced this morning is expected to increase Elbit's overall order backlog, which stood at $23.8 billion at the end of the first half of the year. Elbit registered sales growth of more than 21% year-on-year to $1.97 billion in its second quarter earnings, with profit increasing by more than 60%.
Security sources told Calcalist that the advancement of the current deal to the signing stage may be linked to the end of the two-year war in Gaza, which triggered an unprecedented wave of protests against Israel, expressed, among other things, through boycotts of Israeli companies by countries and business entities, mainly in Europe.
