The Indian army is to acquire two Israeli UAV systems in a deal worth $100 million. In a separate arrangement, the Israeli air force is to purchase Silver Arrow's Hermes 450S unmanned air vehicle for long-range intelligence missions.
Israel Aircraft Industries' Malat division will supply the Indian army with an unspecified number of Searcher 2 short-range UAV's and the Heron 2 medium altitude, long-endurance system.
Indian sources say contract value could grow significantly as the Indian defence ministry seeks to fulfil requirements for other types of UAV. The Israeli deal has been secured by Silver Arrow after the Elbit owned company conducted a series of tests in recent months to prove the UAV. The classified missions included flights over some "second tier" Arab countries.
• Silver Arrow and Elbit Systems have been selected by Racal to join its study contract team working on the UK's Sender unit-level UAV competition. Other team members include Cranfield University and the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. Industry sources say the UK will combine Sender with the longer-range Spectator in a programme known as Captor. BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin UK Government Systems and Northrop Grumman teams also have study contracts.
Source: Flight International
