Tag Archives: Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

Navy

Undersea Defence Technology

May 14, 2023 Dmitry Shulgin

On May 10th, Israel Aerospace Industries and ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, officially launched their latest joint development for advanced Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) missions at the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) Conference and Exhibition in Rostock, Germany. In a festive ceremony at ELTA’s exhibition booth, Eyal Shapira, Vice President and General Manager of ELTA’s division for Air Defense and Naval Systems, and Michael Ozegowski, Chief Executive Officer of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, unveiled the joint development, demonstrating an important milestone in the long-standing partnership between ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and the Israeli industry.

BlueWhale ASW — Israel Aerospace Industries and ATLAS ELEKTRONIK unveil a joint development integrated in the BlueWhale uncrewed submarine

Based on ELTA’s sophisticated BlueWhale autonomous underwater multi-mission platform, a large uncrewed underwater vehicle with a wide range of advanced sensor systems, the system incorporates ATLAS ELEKTRONIK’s unique, towed passive sonar triplet array. In contrast to existing towed sonars, the combined system is designed to function at depths traditionally exploited by submarines to avoid detection. A transmitter developed by ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, deployed from an autonomous or crewed surface vessel, enables the bistatic location and tracking of submarine targets by BlueWhale ASW.

IAI is a pioneer in the field of uncrewed systems in the air, land, space and sea domains. The world’s first Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was developed by IAI for the Israel Defense Forces. During recent decades, IAI became a leader for robotic ground systems, uncrewed vessels, loitering munitions and more. The BlueWhale ASW platform has been successfully tested for thousands of diving hours, performing a wide range of missions, including Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR), Electronic Warfare Support Measures (EW/ESM) and Mine CounterMeasures (MCM).

During the presentation of BlueWhale ASW at UDT, Michael Ozegowski, Chief Executive Officer of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, highlighted the excellent partnership between the two companies spanning decades: «The joint development of BlueWhale ASW demonstrates once again the long-standing and trusting cooperation between German and Israeli naval industry partners. In close collaboration with ELTA, we developed a state-of-the-art system solution enabling high-impact ASW operations with minimum infrastructure requirements. The ATLAS ELEKTRONIK towed passive sonar triplet array and advanced transmitter solution is optimized for long-endurance autonomous operations. A solution that meets operational needs and capabilities in an efficient and cost-effective way».

Eyal Shapira, Vice President and General Manager of ELTA’s division for Air Defense and Naval Systems, said: «This new joint development is a result of the close relationship between IAI ELTA and ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, and between Germany and Israel. BlueWhale ASW will rely on ELTA’s extensive experience in the realm of machine learning and AIdriven autonomous systems together with the company’s advanced payloads, including Active Electronically Scanned array (AESA) radars, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) systems and secure, long-range communication systems. Highly developed, on-board processing ensures that the incoming intelligence data is exploited in a timely and efficient manner».

The ATLAS ELEKTRONIK towed sonar array incorporates the company’s legacy of more than 100 years in the design, development and production of naval systems. It is based on the company’s proven Active Towed Array Sonar (ACTAS) platform, a deep-water sonar system originally designed for surface vessel deployment. The system utilizes a low frequency sonar system that facilitates excellent area coverage while maintaining high sensitivity at depths previously beyond the reach of conventional sonar systems.

Technical specifications of BlueWhale ASW

Length	10.9 m/35.76 feet
Diameter	1.12 m/3.67 feet
Weight	5.5 t
Endurance	10-30 days (depending on the mission)
Speed, operational	2-3 knots/2.3-3.5 mph/3.7-5.5 kph
Speed, operational	maximum 7 knots/8 mph/13 kph (submerged)
Depth rating capability	300 m/984 feet

Navy

BlueWhale

May 7, 2023 Dmitry Shulgin

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is extending its maritime capabilities and presenting its BlueWhale Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for the first time. This has successfully undergone thousands of autonomous operation hours, including intelligence-gathering for both maritime and coastal targets, acoustic intelligence, and identifying the presence of naval mines. The autonomous submarine can perform a significant portion of the operations of a manned submarine, for periods of several weeks, at minimal cost and maintenance, without the need for operators on board.

Like manned submarines, BlueWhale performs covert intelligence-gathering above the sea surface, can detect submarines, underwater targets and gather acoustic intelligence, and also search for and detect naval mines on the seabed.

BlueWhale is equipped with a telescopic mast, like the periscope of a manned submarine, several meters high, on which are mounted radar and electro-optical systems for detecting sea and coastal targets. By using a satellite communications antenna on the mast, the gathered data can be transferred in real-time to command posts, anywhere in the world, at sea or on land. Submarine detection and acoustic intelligence-gathering data is enabled using a sonar, several tens of meters long, towed by the BlueWhale, and by flank array sonar with receiver arrays attached to both sides of the platform.

In parallel, mine detection is performed using a dedicated synthetic aperture sonar, attached to the sides of the vessel. The BlueWhale has a sensor suite to help ensure its safe transit underwater or near the surface. In recent years, a number of international patents have been registered regarding development of the system.

IAI VP and Elta’s CEO, Yoav Tourgeman: «BlueWhale joins the family of land, sea, and space-based unmanned platforms, developed by IAI, and represents a force-multiplier for submarine fleets. Based on its advanced engineering capabilities IAI’s Elta Group has for the first time in the world managed to bring to maturity the development and production of an autonomous underwater system able to perform a wide range of tasks. BlueWhale is a significant member of IAI’s family of maritime products, which include solutions for use in Economic Exclusion Zones, tools for managing autonomous vessels, and their integration in monitoring the maritime arena».

Blue Whale – Israel Aerospace Industries

Missiles & Guided Weapons, Rocket

POINT BLANK

January 23, 2023 Dmitry Shulgin

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has unveiled its POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile, that can be carried in a soldier’s backpack. The system answers the battlefield requirement to provide tactical units ranging in size from small tactical teams to battalion level, with an independent and organic capability to increase their lethality.

POINT BLANK allows these units to attack a variety of targets in real time with great precision and high lethality, without the need for support. The missile is hand-launched, operated by a single soldier, and can take off from and land vertically back to, the soldier’s hand.

IAI, as prime contractor, has been competitively awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to rapidly develop and deliver “ROC-X” a version of the POINT BLANK system that meets specific U.S. DoD requirements for the purpose of increasing the organic precision strike lethality and survivability of small tactical teams. IAI will provide the first prototypes and training to DoD for Operational Testing & Evaluation in FY 23.

POINT BLANK weighs about 15 lbs./6.8 kg and is about 3 feet/91 cm long. The missile can fly at altitudes above 1,500 feet/457 m, at a maximum speed of 178 mph/186 kph and can hover or loiter in the air while the target’s nature and exact position is confirmed prior to attack. Thanks to IAI’s advanced manufacturing technologies, the missile can carry electro-optical systems to validate and collect surveillance information in real time, and it is also being developed to be equipped with a warhead to destroy the target.

IAI’s Executive VP Systems, Missiles & Space Group, Mr. Guy Bar Lev said: «POINT BLANK joins Israel Aerospace Industries’ family of missiles, to provide ground-based tactical forces with more precise capabilities to undertake offensive operations especially against short-lived targets. We wish to thank the IWTSD for its support and cooperation in the field of precision munitions, confirming, yet again, the importance of tactical missiles to the modern army. IAI continues to develop and improve a wide range of offensive systems which provide precision operational solutions, and stands firmly to support our U.S. customers».

IAI is both a national and world center of excellence in the fields of offensive missiles, air defense, radars, satellites, remotely controlled platforms, civil aviation, and cyber, supplying end-to-end solutions for use on land, in the air, at sea, and in space.

Ground Forces, Radars

Multi-Mission Radar

April 10, 2022 Dmitry Shulgin

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has supplied the Czech Republic, via its Czech partners RETIA and VTU, with the first air defense Multi-Mission Radar (MMR), as part of a deal signed in December 2019 by the Ministries of Defense of both the Czech Republic and Israel. The radar, which is operational and combat-proven in Israel, provides both surveillance and defense capabilities to customers around the world, and is integrative with NATO systems. The radar detects and classifies threats, and supplies weapons systems with the data necessary to neutralize a number of those threats simultaneously. Thanks to the system’s advanced tracking capabilities, the radar provides situational awareness which is both precise and reliable, and includes the detection and identification of targets having low signatures.

Multi-Mission Radar (MMR) — The radar displays a high-quality air situation picture, dealing simultaneously and efficiently with a wide range of targets while supporting air defense systems

The MMR can deal simultaneously with multiple missions – including air defense against aircraft, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drones, artillery against varied enemy targets, and the identification and location of rocket launches, enemy artillery, and mortars, while locating both the launch and expected hit position, and controlling intercepting missiles launched against these threats. The MMR is the ‘brain’ of Israel’s Barak MX Air and Missile Defense System, the Iron Dome, and David’s Sling, and to date over 150 such systems have been sold to customers around the world.

Yoav Tourgeman, IAI VP and ELTA CEO, said: «Working together with our local Czech partners, IAI is proud to supply the Czech Ministry of Defense with these advanced radar systems on time and according to the project schedule. Despite the challenges of the last two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project teams, in both Israel and the Czech Republic, were able to cooperate successfully while remaining committed to the aim of joint production. The advanced radar that has now been supplied to the Czech Republic is able to simultaneously identify and classify hundreds of targets, perform identification of unmanned platforms, missiles, rockets and other new threats in the operational area. We believe that the system’s ability to integrate with NATO systems will bring about a new era of operations for the Czech Ministry of Defense».

Missiles & Guided Weapons

Maritime HAROP

February 4, 2021 Dmitry Shulgin

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to Provide Loitering Munitions Systems to Asian Countries in Deals Worth Over $100 Million USD.

Three recently-signed deals include the sale of ROTEM Vertical Take-Off & Landing (VTOL) Tactical Loitering Munition and Land and Naval version of the HAROP system announces the signing of three significant contracts valued at over $100 million USD, in which it will supply loitering munitions systems to several countries. The contracts include winning an international tender for the sale of the multi-purpose ROTEM system to a foreign country, sale of the naval version of the HAROP system to the navy of a country in Asia and sale of the ground version of the HAROP system to another customer in Asia.

Boaz Levy, IAI’s President and CEO, said: «IAI is a global pioneer in developing the operational concept of a loitering munitions systems, which has ripened to a family of unique and accurate attack systems. These systems, which have added impressive achievements to the operational capability of fighting forces around the globe, constitute central and decisive attack components for advanced battlefields of the future. These contracts are further proof of the importance and confidence modern armies place in accurate munitions systems as part of their arsenal, and may be harbingers of additional business activity in this field. IAI will continue to develop and improve a range of strike systems in order to give its clients around the world a precise operational solution».

The Maritime HAROP system provides an operational solution for a range of vessels, from off-shore vessels to fighting frigates in the naval theater. In a complex naval theater, the HAROP system gives mission commanders in a fleet of ships the capability to independently and organically collect intelligence, assess targets and strike. The intelligence gathered by the HAROP is directly integrated in the vessel’s control room and allows for quick, accurate and lethal decision-making. Use of the HAROP on naval platforms is an operational alternative and complementary element to using sea-sea missiles, with a wide range of uses and with optimal cost-efficiency for the navy. The maritime and land combat-proven HAROP provides an operational solution for a range of low and high-intensity conflict scenarios and for anti-terrorism activity. The HAROP is equipped with day/night cameras and has the ability to search, find and attack with maximum precision both static and moving targets, on land or at sea and at a long-range. A strike can take place from any direction and at any angle of attack.

ROTEM is the first VTOL Tactical Loitering Munition combat-proven and used in operations by several of the world’s militaries as a small loitering device based on a drone platform and is a power multiplier for tactical forces in a range of fighting scenarios, including security operations and maneuvers. The system provides a reconnaissance, observation and attack envelope with maximum autonomous performance, integrating a simple and intuitive operation interface that can be used by a single fighter from a touchscreen tablet. The ROTEM VTOL Tactical Loitering Munition carries day/night cameras and a warhead weighing up to one kilogram and is optimally designed to carry out combined missions of intelligence gathering and attack. The system incorporates a unique safety mechanism that enables its safe return to the fighter on the ground if an attack was not carried out. The ROTEM system has proven its operational effectiveness for precise, surgical strikes against a range of different targets.

The loitering munitions family developed by IAI includes the Harpy-NG – a third generation of the system homing against radiating targets, the HAROP, a second-generation of a precision electro-optical attack system, the Mini-Harpy, dual (Electro-optical day & night + Anti-Radiation seeker) tactical advanced munitions system and the tactical loitering Green-Dragon system, as well as the ROTEM VTOL Tactical Loitering Munition. IAI is a focal point of national and global technological know-how in the field of attack systems, air defense, radars, satellites, remotely operated aircraft, civilian aviation and cyber.

Air, Unmanned Systems

Tactical UAV

June 7, 2019 Dmitry Shulgin

In the upcoming Paris Air Show, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will unveil the new tactical Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) of the Heron Family: the T-Heron.

The T-heron tactical UAV that IAI will unveil at the Paris Air Show, is powered by a Rotax engine, which allows it to reach a maximum altitude of 24,000 feet/7,315 m, a top speed of 120 knots/138 mph/222 km/h and to carry useful payloads of up to 180 kg/397 lbs. (IAI image)

Designed for tactical missions on the battlefield, the T-Heron is expected to be used extensively by ground troops and coastal guards, as well as by other protection forces. With a versatile design and suitable for a variety of payloads, it features the most advanced IAI technologies.

The T-Heron joins IAI’s Heron UAS Family, which boasts rich know-how and extensive experience of over 40 years, over 1,700,000 combat flight hours and over 50 operational customers, which use IAI UAS’s in a range of missions, environmental conditions and warfare theatres across the globe.

The T-heron features one of the highest levels of flight safety and reliability and is resistant to extreme weather conditions. Its advanced, certified and proven Rotax engine takes it to a maximum altitude of 24,000 feet/7,315 m, speed of 120 knots/138 mph/222 km/h and supports useful payloads of up to 180 kg/397 lbs.

Capable of carrying several payloads concurrently, and equipped with IAI’s best sensors, the T-Heron complies with global standards, including STANAG 4671 requirements.

Moshe Levy, IAI EVP and CEO of the Military Aircraft Division, said, «We are proud to introduce the most recent UAS developed by IAI. Our T-Heron tactical UAS rounds up the range of operational UAS solutions IAI offers to all forces on the battlefield: marine, air, ground, and intelligence. IAI preserves its leadership position in UAS’s with a continuous stream of solutions for the challenges posed by the field».

IAI Ltd. is Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company and a globally recognized technology and innovation leader, specializing in developing and manufacturing advanced, state-of-the-art systems for air, space, sea, land, cyber and homeland security. IAI also designs and manufactures business jets and aerostructures, performs overhaul and maintenance on commercial aircraft and converts passenger aircraft to refueling and cargo configurations.

Air Force

Target in space

February 23, 2018 Dmitry Shulgin

On February 18, 2018, an «Arrow» weapon system test was completed successfully when an «Arrow 3» missile intercepted a simulated target in space. First, the target was detected by the weapon system’s radar. The data was then transmitted to the interception management center, and the «Arrow 3» missile was launched.

On February 18, 2018, an «Arrow» weapon system test was completed successfully. As part of the test, the «Arrow 3» missile intercepted a simulated target in space

The test was performed by Israel’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure, alongside the American Missile Defense Agency, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the Israeli Air Force (IAF). Designated systems were installed on the tested missile in order to transmit unique data and enable a more effective analysis of the test results.

The test’s success is a milestone in Israel’s defensive capabilities. «This was an operational test. We tested the ‘Arrow 3′ interceptor missile against a simulated target located thousands of kilometers away at an altitude of over 100 kilometers/62 miles. This target was further and higher than any other target we’ve intercepted so far», explained Lieutenant Colonel Y’, Commander of the «Arrow» Unit. «The test shows the significant capabilities of the weapon system and its operators, capabilities which are now a part of the IAF’s Aerial Defense Division».

From Detection to Interception

The «Arrow 3» interceptor missile was integrated into the IAF for operational use in January, 2017. It is an innovative missile, designed to defend against ballistic missile threats outside the atmosphere. Additional tests are expected in the U.S. in 2018. «This is an opportunity to examine the entire process, from detection to interception», said Lieutenant Colonel Y’. «As part of this test, we examined the capabilities of the weapon system’s new program block, which was integrated a few months ago. The new block has many improved defense capabilities with an emphasis on a larger radius and altitude of interception. After the test, we have much more faith in this block and its operational capability».

«The test’s success is our success»

The Missile Test Unit was responsible for the test’s infrastructure. «We received the test scenario and began establishing its infrastructure with an emphasis on safety», said Lieutenant Colonel A’, Commander of the Missile Test Unit. «The biggest challenge was mapping out dangerous zones on the ground, in the air and at sea in order to prevent people, aircraft and ships from entering. Our unit is responsible for operating the test field, both in maintenance and in engineering. It is a privilege to perform this test, and its success is our success».

Modern weapons