New Israeli Personal Hovering System

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Israeli ground forces are getting more help from above. First it was UAS and now the idea is to equip almost every fighter with a personal hovering system.

Rafael has unveiled a small tactical intelligence gathering hovering system . The plan is to equip many of the soldiers in an infantry unit with the micro hovering system that will serve as “eyes over the hill”. The “Kestrel” is carried in a small canister stowed in the personal gear of an infantry soldier. After mission completion it can be returned to the canister for further use.

Rafael sources say that a soldier can carry a number of these hovering systems in his personal gear , together with a small control unit. The company says that the operation is very easy and according to the Israeli company the “Kestrel” can hover for 15 minutes and can be operated after battery replacement for 50 hours without maintenance.

Unmanned Systems Event 2014 – Israel

The micro system can hover to a distance of 1 km from its operator in an urban area and 5 km in an open one. Hovering altitude is 100 meters in an open area and 50 in an urban one. Rafael plans to equip the micro system with a day CCCD camera and with a special night vision sensor.

The Israeli company says that the system has very impressive capabilities for this type of hovering system – a detection of a person from a range of 180 meters, recognizing him at a 60 meters range and incriminating him at a range of 30 meters,vehicles can be detected at a range of 400 meters and recognized at a range of 60 meters.