Israel selects Elbit Skylark drone
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2004
ROBIN HUGHES JDW Deputy News Editor
London
The Israeli Ministry of Defence (MoD) has selected Elbit Systems' Skylark to meet the Israel Defence Force (IDF) Ground Force's requirement for a man-portable mini-unmanned air vehicle (UAV).
The 2.2m Skylark is a hand-launched reconnaissance system with a 2.4m wing span and a mission endurance of up to two hours. Designed for day/night observation and data collection at distances of up to 10km, the UAV can be equipped with a variety of mission payloads in a pod beneath its fuselage, including a colour TV camera or a forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) sensor.
The system is understood to be compatible with the Tadiran Spectralink-developed StarLink datalink, a frequency-hopping system optimised for use with micro- and mini-UAV designs in the 10km-range category (JDW 28 May 2003).
Israeli defence sources told JDW that Skylark was selected following a fly-off programme between Elbit, Rafael Armament Development Authority and Israel Aircraft Industries - the latter companies understood to be respectively flying the like-named Skylark man-portable, canister-launched, loitering surveillance and reconnaissance platform and the I-See mini-UAV.
The programme was designed to meet the specific technical and operational capability requirements of the IDF, the sources told JDW.
The MoD is expected to place an initial order in the near future, although the number of systems required has not been disclosed.
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http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/aircraft/uav/skylark/Skylark.html
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2004
ROBIN HUGHES JDW Deputy News Editor
London
The Israeli Ministry of Defence (MoD) has selected Elbit Systems' Skylark to meet the Israel Defence Force (IDF) Ground Force's requirement for a man-portable mini-unmanned air vehicle (UAV).
The 2.2m Skylark is a hand-launched reconnaissance system with a 2.4m wing span and a mission endurance of up to two hours. Designed for day/night observation and data collection at distances of up to 10km, the UAV can be equipped with a variety of mission payloads in a pod beneath its fuselage, including a colour TV camera or a forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) sensor.
The system is understood to be compatible with the Tadiran Spectralink-developed StarLink datalink, a frequency-hopping system optimised for use with micro- and mini-UAV designs in the 10km-range category (JDW 28 May 2003).
Israeli defence sources told JDW that Skylark was selected following a fly-off programme between Elbit, Rafael Armament Development Authority and Israel Aircraft Industries - the latter companies understood to be respectively flying the like-named Skylark man-portable, canister-launched, loitering surveillance and reconnaissance platform and the I-See mini-UAV.
The programme was designed to meet the specific technical and operational capability requirements of the IDF, the sources told JDW.
The MoD is expected to place an initial order in the near future, although the number of systems required has not been disclosed.
*********
http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/aircraft/uav/skylark/Skylark.html