TIM RIPLEY
Israel's leadership in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) design and production is on show at Le Bourget with five air vehicles present in the static park.
Israel Aircraft Industries' Malat Division has its Hunter and Searcher II products on display in its own area and its Heron medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) UAV is in the EADS static display under the brand name Eagle.
"Everyone now recognises the future is in UAVs," says a Malat spokesman. "Our division has the most experience and the biggest number of systems worldwide". The widespread use of UAVs by the Israeli defence force is a major factor in the success of the company¹s products. "The Searcher and Heron are used on a daily basis," says the spokesman.
"Malat has a vast experience in operations and engineering. We are very innovative. We have a common ground control station for all our UAVs and customers can change payloads with no problem."
The company has already made inroads into the European market, selling Hunter UAVs to the French air force for experimental trials and the Belgian army for tactical work. The Swiss armed forces have purchased the Ranger and the French have selected the Heron for its ‘gap filler' MALE requirement. IAI subsidiaries ELTA Electronics Industries Ltd announced at Le Bourget that the EL/M-2055 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload had successfully been integrated in the MALAT Searcher II tactical UAV system. This is the first tactical UAV to carry an operational SAR sensor providing all weather intelligence capability. The EL/M-2055 SAR provides a true all weather capability generating SAR images that approach photographic quality, says the company.
Source: Flight Daily News
