Israel’s Air Force unveils new intelligence system

Israel’s Air Force unveils new intelligence system

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IAI's Heron-1 UAS

New data collecting system for the Israeli Air Force: The variety of unmanned air systems (UAS) over Israel and neighboring areas has created a new operational requirement in the IDF in general in the Israeli Air Force in particular.

The joint operation of the Israel aerospace industries (IAI) Heron 1 and the Elbit-developed system Hermes-450 unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has led the Israeli Air Force (IAF) to develop a new data monitoring system that helps it in deploying these two systems and using them in the most optimal way.

An Israeli Air Force told i-HLS that the new tracking system will be operational soon.

The advanced system is capable of extracting a broad range of data such as flight speed and altitude, weather conditions, flight path, methods of operation and mission cancellation.

The primary new feature of the system is its ability to analyze data gathered from a series of flights, rather than from individual flights.

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Elbit System's HERMES-900

The massive amount of data will allow the IAF an unprecedentedly high standard of tracking for its UAS activities, as well as for maintenance conditions.

The data, collected in the framework of a series of flights, will provide the IAF and its analysts with crucial data about malfunctions and safety violations too.

During the recent “Protective Edge” military operation in Gaza, the two types of UAS performed a huge number of missions – some of them at the same time and over the same area. According to i-HLS sources within the IAF, this created an urgent need to monitor the two types simultaneously. This also led to the IAF having to find a way to somehow present the data in such a way that will allow the extraction of further operational conclusions.

The experience that will be gained from using the new monitoring system will help the IAF in formulating the necessary database it will use to decide whether to deploy the system and use it on other UAS – such as the IAI Heron TP and the Elbit Systems-developed Hermes-900.