Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 74) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 IAI Establishes Its Leadership in the UAV Field The development of unmanned systems through cooperation with leading and local partnerships is part of the future roadmap for Israel Aerospace Industries. According to the company’s president and CEO Itzhak Nissan, IAI envisions a significant business potential and growing demand for unmanned systems. Sales of these systems and payloads already account for about 6-8% of IAI’s annual sales of $3.3 billion. This volume is expected to grow in the future as the new generation of systems, from the large Heron TP to the tactical I-View, enter full production. To exploit this potential while establishing its leadership in the field of unmanned systems, IAI is expanding cooperation with a number of leading industries worldwide. These include the foundation of Stark Aviation in Mississippi in form that could meet their requirements in the short and medium term. The first system could be operational as early as the end of 2012. IAI and Rheinmetall Defense are also competing on Heron TP a similar solution proposed to the German Ministry of Defense. The Israeli system is expected to Again, the Germans save the European governments could benefit from the near-term availability about one billion Euros of the Israeli platform, since they require the 2007, where IAI produces and sup- agreement with IAI. system to be operaports unmanned systems and The companies intional within two years. payloads operating in the U.S. In t e n d t o p r o p o s e In June of this year Latin America, IAI established a IAI’s Heron TP sysItzhak Nissan. IAI and Elbit System joint venture with the Synergy tem for a strategic Group, pursuing new opportunities unmanned platform to support introduced the first operational, in UAVs, missile systems, radars, strategic reconnaissance and sur- autonomous unmanned ground electronic warfare and intelligence veillance for the French and Spanish vehicle, developed by the jointsystems, primarily for the Brazilian governments. The Israeli system is venture company G-Nius. This expected to save the European gov- vehicle is also being evaluated for market. Last month Dassault, Thales ernments about one billion euros airport security missions. and Indra announced a teaming by utilizing the fully developed plat—Tamir Eshel Alenia & Elbit Will Collaborate on Flight Systems for C-27J Spartan C-27J Spartan. Piemonte Highlights Leading Aerospace Role Italy’s Piemonte region is using the Farnborough Air Show to promote its strong aerospace and defense industry, representing companies that account for nearly 16% of Italy’s aerospace exports. Piemonte—particularly the area around its capital Torino—is home to several leading international companies, including Thales Alenia Space, Alenia Aeronautica, Avio Group, Selex Galileo and Microtecnica. These account for about 10,000 employees and a total turnover of 1.8 billion euros. This is a sizeable chunk of the national aerospace industry, which has 38,000 employees and a turnover of 6.1 billion euros. The Piedmontese aerospace companies shipped 560 million euros in exports in 2007, up 3.2% from the previous year. The European Union accounted for 62.4% of these exports, with another 30.2% going to the United States. Greece heads the list of European destinations with 23.4%, followed by Germany with 12.3% and France with 11.9%. The region’s Farnborough promotion effort is featured at Stand C20A in Hall 1 and is organized by the Torino Chamber of Commerce and the Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism. Piemonte is also highlighting the World Air Games, scheduled to be staged in Torino from June 7 through 13, 2009. The event is regarded as the Olympics of air sports. In a deal to be announced today, Alenia Aeronautica of Italy and Israel’s Elbit Systems have agreed to collaborate on enhancing the flight capabilities of the C-27J Spartan tactical airlifter. Elbit Systems will provide and help integrate its Helmet Mounted Display LITE, an optical system designed to improve pilots’ situational awareness and reduce their workload by keeping their eyes off cockpit gauges and outside the aircraft. Preliminary testing has focused on determining HMD operational advantages unique to the C-27J. Test flights have simulated various mission profiles, including air drops and operations from unimproved runways. In the next phase of the program, slated for completion next spring, the HMD will be integrated with Alenia’s C-27J flight simulator. This, Alenia says, “will allow customers to evaluate the HMD LITE option 74 July 15, 2008 using the C-27J simulator as a demonstration environment.” Elbit Systems already owns a significant share of the Helmet Mounted Systems (HMS) market, working through its Vision Systems International unit which is jointly owned with Kaiser Electronics, a Rockwell Collins subsidiary. Among various features, the Elbit HMS offers tracking and display systems for target designation, weapon and sensor slaving, and the display of tactical information. This technology is the basis of the U.S. Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) program. Supplied through VSI, JHMCS is earmarked for all front-line U.S. fighters, including the F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and F-22. Elbit’s ANVIS/Head Up Display already equips more than 5,000 military helicopters worldwide. www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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