Russia said on Friday it had signed a contract to buy airborne drones from Israel, in a move analysts said was aimed at strengthening the armed forces after last year's brief war with Georgia.

"We signed a contract ... for the delivery of unmanned flying vehicles," Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Popovkin as saying.

Russian media have reported the deal is worth about $50 million and that Russia will buy the drones from Israel's largest defence firm, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). IAI officials declined to comment.

Russia's five-day war with neighbouring Georgia last August exposed a Soviet-style army with obsolete equipment and a lack of spy drones and high-precision bombs, analysts said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said that budget cuts this year in the wake of the financial crisis will not affect planned purchases of new weapons for the armed forces.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.