newkerala, Amman: Jordan is set to bag a contract to sell 16 light surveillance aircraft to Iraq, Xinhua reports.
Several international companies, including US and European firms, competed for the tender but Jordan Aerospace Industries (JAI) gained preference because its two-seater Sama CH2000 airplane is more economic, Muayyad Samarrai, the company's director, was quoted as saying by Jordan Times Thursday.
JAI will train Iraqi pilots on the advanced surveillance aircraft, he said.
“For an American company, it is costly to manufacture and transport aircraft to Iraq, and it is also risky, in terms of security, to transport aircraft parts and to send assembling teams to Iraq,” Samarrai said.
But he did not reveal the total price of the Jordanian aircraft.
JAI is the first private company in the Middle East to make and assemble light surveillance aircraft. Its team mainly comprises Jordanian experts who have retired from the Royal Air Force.
Sama CH2000 will be used by Iraqi Air Forces for surveillance missions, including preventing sabotage attacks on infrastructure facilities.
