It is always interesting to find out what other "clients" rather than the air force think regarding unmanned platforms. I visited the Israeli navy, which is using the Eurocopter AS-565 Panther (Atalef) helicopters on its Saar-5 missile corvettes.
The search for an unmanned substitute for the "Atalef" has been going on for some years, despite the fact Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a leading developer and manufacturer of unmanned air systems, has made a huge effort to develop an unmanned helicopter. This effort led IAI to cooperate with Indian industry, but so far no operational products have appeared.
The navy knows it has to replace the "Atalef" (Hebrew for bat) but surprised me by saying that instead of a full-size unmanned rotorcraft, it has a different vision, based on a number of small unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) platforms that will each perform one dedicated mission.
One, the navy says, may be equipped with an electro optical payload to spot threats in the sea. The other could be fitted with weapon direction aids, such as a laser designator, yet another with weapons to defend the ship.
The navy went further. It has a vision of unmanned small VTOL platforms that will be deployed not only on the full-size Saar-5 missile corvettes but also on the small Super Dvora fast patrol boats.
The one factor that will decide if all this vision turns into operational reality is that all these platforms must be fully autonomous. This is not an easy task, especially when your landing surface often shakes and rolls, but work is under way and technology always finds a way to compensate for the force of nature.
The search for an unmanned substitute for the "Atalef" has been going on for some years, despite the fact Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a leading developer and manufacturer of unmanned air systems, has made a huge effort to develop an unmanned helicopter. This effort led IAI to cooperate with Indian industry, but so far no operational products have appeared.
The navy knows it has to replace the "Atalef" (Hebrew for bat) but surprised me by saying that instead of a full-size unmanned rotorcraft, it has a different vision, based on a number of small unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) platforms that will each perform one dedicated mission.
One, the navy says, may be equipped with an electro optical payload to spot threats in the sea. The other could be fitted with weapon direction aids, such as a laser designator, yet another with weapons to defend the ship.
The navy went further. It has a vision of unmanned small VTOL platforms that will be deployed not only on the full-size Saar-5 missile corvettes but also on the small Super Dvora fast patrol boats.
The one factor that will decide if all this vision turns into operational reality is that all these platforms must be fully autonomous. This is not an easy task, especially when your landing surface often shakes and rolls, but work is under way and technology always finds a way to compensate for the force of nature.
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