Leading the Unmanned Aviation Field, From 15

Leading the Unmanned Aviation Field, From 15

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

For the last five years, ORT vocational school which is located in the compound of Israel aerospace industries (IAI), is teaching high school students how to design, activate and maintain UAV’s. Ahead of the AUS&R convention that will focus on autonomous aviation and robotics, we talked to the school principal, Yehuda Horev, and Reserve Brigadier General Miki Bar, head of the school’s managing board and the former commander of Palmachim airbase, in order to understand the direction and target in which this class, first-of-a-kind in Israel, is going.
Yehuda Horev: “At 12th grade our students are tested by the IAF before they start their duties as practical engineers. They always pass with flying colors. This is because since 11th grade the students participate in practical work at the Malat factory working stations. Their curriculum and syllabus were written in co-operation with the IAF and the Aerial Industry”. Apparently, the exposure to technological education and work from a young age is a key factor in creating great minds for developing the young and exciting field, the practical guidance by Malat’s skilled menotrs upgrades to a large extent the instruction process.” Brig. Gen. Bar addressed the subject: “When one is educated to create technology and breakthrough developments and meets great minds in the industry, there is a high likeliness he will be on as well”.
As stated earlier, the classes’ syllabus was written with the IAF, according to Horev and Brig. Gen. Bar this makes the qualification process much shorter. The only subjects that remain for the IAF to teach graduates are because aspects of classification. The co-operation among all the partners in the school, ORT Network, the Ministry of Labor, Mahut and Malat factory and the Air Force, claims Horev, is yielding fruit: “The IAF is giving incredible feedback. Officers come regularly to speak with our students about the rapidly developing UAV and unmanned systems world”.
From IAI ORT’s point of view this is a huge step up. ORT, originally created to deal with youth with difficulties, developed courses whose students are now Israel’s most talented youngsters for the subject.
Brig. Gen. Bar explained: “The new F-35 aircrafts that are about to arrive towards the end of this year are the last manned aircrafts, everyone in the industry understands the future lays in unmanned aviation. We are global pioneers in this aspect, that we have a yearly class which is targeted specifically to this subject from such a young age. This will enable international co-operations at the highest professional level”.
Horev said ahead of the convention: “We’re coming to the prestigious convention with our students, as in every year, to learn and be exposed to the new developments. In addition, our students will be able to explain with pride about the advantages of our successful industrial model”.