Cyprus: €150 million deal with Israel for warships close to signing, according to Calcalist – Israel Shipyards boats with Rafael weapons for the Cypriot Navy

Israel’s Israel Shipyards and Rafael are close to a joint deal worth about €150 million to sell vessels and weapon systems to Cyprus, according to an exclusive report by the business daily Calcalist, written by Yuval Azulai, on Tuesday, October 20. The agreement is expected to be signed in the coming weeks, once the terms are finalised between Israel’s Ministry of Defense and Cyprus’s Ministry of Defence.

According to Calcalist, Israel Shipyards will supply vessels to the Cypriot Navy, which will carry Rafael weapon systems. The initiative is being pushed through a government-to-government (G2G) agreement and aims to deepen Israel’s defence, diplomatic and economic ties with Cyprus, strengthening a strategic relationship that also includes Greece. The newspaper links the cooperation to tensions with Turkey and to Ankara’s efforts to widen its influence in the region during the prolonged conflict in the Middle East. Rafael and Israel Shipyards declined to comment on the report.

The earlier Cyprus delivery

The two companies have worked together before on defence programmes with Cyprus and other countries. Less than a decade ago Israel Shipyards delivered to Cyprus a patrol vessel designed to protect the Exclusive Economic Zone, fitted with radar, command-and-control systems and two Typhoon naval weapon stations. In its list of deliveries the company cites an offshore patrol vessel (OPV) for the Cypriot Navy. The company’s OPV 45 is 45.7 metres long, displaces about 300 tonnes, has a top speed of about 24 knots and a range of over 3,500 nautical miles at 12 knots.

In recent years Rafael and Israel Shipyards have also cooperated on defence programmes for Azerbaijan and the Philippines. Israel Shipyards has a Greek link as well, having previously cooperated with ONEX on the co-production of the corvette “Themistocles”.

The wider Greece–Israel–Cyprus picture

The newspaper recalls that in August Israel and Greece signed the €3 billion Achilles Shield agreement, under which Israel will help build a multi-layered Greek air defence network with systems from Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Beyond naval systems, IAI has supplied Cyprus with the Barak MX air and missile defence system, which appeared publicly at the military parade in Nicosia for the 66th anniversary of Cyprus’s independence. According to Calcalist, the system’s appearance in the parade showed the depth of the two countries’ defence relationship.

Israeli defence sources told the paper that the naval deal now taking shape could pave the way for further commercial ties, including possible cooperation in defence production.