Israeli UAVs Compete for Canada’s Arctic Mission
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עברית (Hebrew)
Two Israeli made UAS are in the competition aimed at selecting a UAS for Canada’s arctic missions.
Canada’s military wants its next unmanned aircraft system to be capable of dropping search-and-rescue supplies in the Arctic and in other areas as it looks to expand UAS roles into activities formerly conducted by manned platforms. Canada plans to spend between about 1 billion U.S. dollars for this acquisition.
The Canadian army says that it is looking for a UAS that can carry some equipment, whether it is weapons or other equipment, to be able, when it is patrolling the Arctic, to carry a search-and-rescue package that it can drop any time.
iHLS – Israel Homeland Security
According to UAS Vision the Air Force did not respond to questions about whether it would be willing to fund research and testing into adding equipment transport capability to UAS. But a National Defense Department source said the Air Force hopes industry will provide solutions to Canada’s project to purchase the UAS, known as the Canadian Forces Joint UAV Surveillance and Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS).
Adding additional weight for every mission of an unmanned mission is unlikely as the extra weight will reduce the volume of fuel carried on board, dramatically reducing mission endurance, increasing system’s wear (due to excessive takeoff and landing) and increasing the risk of losing aircraft (caused often by takeoff or landing).
The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron and the Elbit systems Hermes-900 are in the Canadian competition.
