Russian military aircraft manufacturer Irkut has signed a contract with Vietnam to build a small unmanned aircraft for the Southeast Asian country, Izvestia daily reported last week.
The $10 million deal, with Vietnam Aerospace Association (VASA), was signed last week, Yury Malov, head of the Irkut Engineering, Irkut’s subsidiary, told Izvestia.
The firm will build a mini-UAS, [the Irkut 2M ? – Ed.] as well as transmitting and remote control systems to operate it. It will also help “teach the Vietnamese side how to maintain and use the drones” until VASA “has had the experience” enabling it to build the UAS itself, Malov said.
He said the UAS are intended for civilian use but could “in future” be used for defence purposes. VASA refused to confirm it had struck the deal.
Irkut has already built UAS for Belarus. Malov said that Irkut may launch a “serial production” of aircraft for Vietnam should it like the Russian UAS.
Source: Ria Novosti