France Seeks to Buy "Israeli" Drones

Local Editor

France is in talks with the United States and the Zionist entity to buy intelligence-gathering drones, Paris' Defense Minister said on Sunday.

"We need this capacity in the short term. There are currently two countries in the world that build drones, the United States and "Israel"," Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the iTele TV channel.
"We are in discussions with each to buy some straight away," he added.

Bloomberg reported that Le Drian, who was in Washington over the weekend to meet US War Secretary Chuck Hagel as well as lawmakers and White House officials, claimed France had an "urgent need" for such drones.

The French Le Monde newspaper reported on Saturday that France had received approval from the US Pentagon to buy two Reaper drones, and that the deal needed backing from Congress.

The report in the French newspaper said France was looking at eventually buying a total of five or seven Reapers. The plan is to deploy the two US-made drones in Mali before the end of the year, according to Le Monde.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org