via Israeli air force seeks new training helicopter

When talking high-tech, Israel is renowned for groundbreaking innovation, with an astonishing number of start-ups being constantly launched, fueled by a thriving entrepreneurship and nurtured by an innovation-prone government strategy.
It is less known however that this Country applies innovation and a great deal of imagination to government contracting procedures too, in order to make asset acquisitions more affordable to the shrinking procurement budgets.
Israel is leading the crowd of a selected number of Countries, such as Australia and the UK to list just a couple, which are applying innovative mechanisms of financial engineering and private sector participation to acquire, operate and support defense and homeland security assets. As much as private sector can safely participate in non-combat operations.
Another significant contract worth adding to this article’s list is the one involving the 2012 joint venture between Elbit and IAI (TOR) to finance the acquisition and provide services related to the selection by the IAF of the M346 advanced jet trainer.
Back to the specifics of the article, it will be interesting to watch the outcome of IAF’s tender to acquire the next rotorcraft for its training academy, also in view of the forthcoming U.S. Navy RFP for an Advanced Helicopter Training System to replace its TH-57- based program. Possible contenders are likely to be the same for both contests.