Elbit to supply two patrol aircraft to APAC country

Elbit will supply two new long-range patrol aircraft (LRPA) based on the Leonardo ATR 72-600 to a customer in Asia. (Leonardo)

Elbit Systems announced that it has won a contract to supply two long-range patrol aircraft (LRPA) to an Asia-Pacific (APAC) country.

Janes assesses that this contract is linked to the Philippines, which has been seeking to procure two maritime patrol aircraft since 2014. In its statement on 10 July Elbit said that two LRPA aircraft will be “based on the new ATR 72-600”.

“Elbit Systems will integrate in each aircraft a mission suite that includes a mission management system, electro-optics [EO], radar, SIGINT [signals intelligence], communication and more,” Elbit added.

According to Elbit, the value of the contract is USD114 million. The company added that the contract will be carried out over a period of five years.

Elbit's statement suggests that the aircraft is for the Philippine Air Force (PAF), which has an active procurement project called the LRPA. According to Janes data, the acquisition programme originated in 2014 and covers two aircraft with the programme having a value of USD118 million.

However, the bidding processes failed on several instances and the programme stalled. It was rebooted in May 2017 with a programme value of USD115 million. The contract was expected to progress to the contract stage by 2020.

Janes has reached out to Elbit and the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) for comment.

Elbit's recent announcement comes nine months after the Philippine government released the initial funding to finance its delayed LRPA programme. Janes