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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2598.PDF
Israel: UAVs ARMAMENTS Industry shuns UCAV development The dramatic emergence of unmanned air vehicles in recent conflicts has captured the imagina tion of world industry and brought new possibilities to military users in persistent surveillance. Companies and operators in Europe and the USA have been swayed by the promise of the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), which will remove pilots from some of their most danger ous missions. Despite being a leading expo nent of UAV developments, Israeli industry appears to be united by its lack of enthusiasm for the develop ment of UCAVs, branding the systems too expensive to develop and acquire. Israel already has a lethal drone capability in the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Harpy loiter ing anti-radar system, but does not acknowledge having armed any of its other unmanned systems. "A UCAV is non-relevant in our future work," says IAI vice-presi dent Menahem Shmul. "We do not deal with armed UAVs." However, Shmul concedes such a capability could be fielded in the future if a customer were to fund a develop ment project. lAI's Heron medium-altitude long-endurance UAV could gain the ability to deploy air-launched weapons, but this is being pursued largely to meet the future require ments of the US Army's extended-range multipurpose UAV programme. Likewise, Elbit Systems' Hermes 450 could one day carry offensive weapons if a customer sought this capability. Elbit's Hermes 450 could be armed, but UCAV systems are not a priority WATCHKEEPER R E L H K Because we ensure proven reliability for your battlespace superiority Driven by decades of operational experience, RAFAEL's innovative solutions directly target your defense challenges. RAFAELC^) SMART AND TO THE POINT • E-mail: intl-mkt@rafael.co.il • www.rafael.co.il www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7-13 DECEMBER 2004 43
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