Elta’s Payload Demonstrated on S-100 UAV

Elta’s Payload Demonstrated on S-100 UAV

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An exercise was conducted by the Australian Army with Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) to gain further insights into future capabilities and payloads.

Specifically, they tested Isreali ELTA Systems’ state-of-the-art ELK-7065 Compact Airborne HF COMINT/DF 3D System during the first week, followed by Overwatch Imaging’s game-changing TK-5 Firewatch during the second week of the exercise.

The S-100, a multi-payload capable market leader in Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL), offers a proven platform for military and civilian applications on land and at sea. It operates day and night, under adverse weather conditions and with a beyond line-of-sight capability of up to 200 km.

The combination of the S-100 and the ELK-7065 offers a remarkably flexible high-frequency (HF) communications intelligence (COMINT) capability that provides rapid spectrum exploration, analysis and detection of advanced HF communication signals in real time and with off-line analysis tools. The system tags and identifies signals characteristics in a multi-dimensional domain, composed of signal identifiers such as power, center frequency, modulation, geo-location, polarization and more, according to iai.co.il.

Furthermore, it is suitable to operate in harsh electromagnetic environments. Its integration with the UAS “offers the essential capability of delivering time-critical intelligence in the most complex operational environments,” noted Chris Day, Chief Technical Officer for Schiebel. “This is increasingly important for military, para-military and civilian applications.”

According to schiebel.net, the TK-5 Firewatch payload bridges the gap between small drone mapping cameras and satellite mapping systems. The wide-area multi-band land mapping with automatic small object detection enables regional-scale applications in real time with optimal resolution.

Integrated on the S-100, it becomes an extremely powerful asset for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

Director General of Aviation for the Australian Army, Brigadier John Fenwick, commented that, “The lease of the CAMCOPTER S-100 and its advanced payloads is an important activity supporting Army’s understanding of UAS capabilities. We will continue to explore all options to keep the Australian Army at the forefront of new technologies.”