ARIE EGOZI / TEL AVIV
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) is to develop and manufacture a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for the Israeli defence forces under an initial $50 million ministry of defence contract.
A senior Israeli air force source says the programme is on track and that the capability will be achieved "pretty soon". A foreign country is said to be sharing the development costs in return for a SAR satellite.
Israel needs the satellite to complete its long-range intelligence gathering capability, based currently on the Ofeq-5 intelligence satellite, and Eros 1 Earth-imaging satellite.
The new satellite will be built by the MBT division of IAI, and the SAR payload by its Elta subsidiary.
Elta SAR systems are in operational use. The air force has equipped some Lockheed Martin F-16s with Elta's EL/M-2060P SAR pod. The air force says that the plan to build a dedicated communications satellite for the defence forces "is on the agenda but is not critical".
Source: Flight International
