Future UAV/RPA Trends According to Elbit Systems

Loitering unmanned aerial vehicles, small surveillance satellites, robotic vessels for the sea medium and land robotics – these are the future trends for the unmanned platform world according to Elad Aharonson, EVP & GM of Elbit Systems' ISTAR Division

 

Future UAV/RPA Trends According to Elbit Systems

Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

In his address at the UVID 2016 conference organized by Israel Defense, Elad Aharonson said that the UAS activity has been the 'prodigal son' of the Israeli defense industry for the past forty years. "It is time, however, for this infant prodigy to grow up, and today we have to define and develop new systems and find new solutions – how the vehicles should be flown within the civilian airspace, how to develop software and mechanics for new vehicles, how to prevent collisions between manned and unmanned platforms, how to operate UAVs in a thunderstorm, in the rain and under sandy conditions – we must adapt the platform to the client and to his operational requirements. The same applies to the payloads and to the communication channels that convey the data and the intelligence to the decision makers."

Regarding the loitering platforms, Aharonson said that "These are hybrids between a UAV and a missile. They collect intelligence in addition to being lethal. The line between UAVs and munitions is becoming blurred."

As far as outer space is concerned, the current trend involves small satellites operating in groups and collecting intelligence while orbiting over the relevant area continuously – providing on-going aerial coverage.

The sea medium is perfectly suitable for automatic vehicles as surface vessels are sizable, costly, employ hundreds of people – and are vulnerable. Even with regard to asymmetrical confrontations, the opponents are likely to exploit the sea medium, for example – by employing miniature submarines and divers. The task of defending the economical waters, as in the case of the offshore gas drilling rigs, can be assigned to autonomous vessels and these are the current development trends.

Benny Davidor, Head of the Unmanned Systems Department at the Israel Civil Aviation Authority, spoke about unmanned vehicles and remotely-piloted aircraft operating within the civilian airspace. According to Davidor, the activity of small, unmanned vehicles in Israel is intensifying, and the Israel Civil Aviation Authority is cooperating with a number of international aviation organizations that are already engaged in the task of regulating the skies in the era of remotely-piloted aircraft, in licensing and in the formulation of regulations for the new reality of manned and unmanned platforms sharing the same airspace. The Israel Civil Aviation Authority is currently preparing regulations intended to ensure safety and security in the sky. The primary criteria are the vehicle's size, weight and mainly the risk it imposes while airborne. "Obviously, the licensing for a vehicle weighing 50 kg or 100 kg is not the same as the licensing for a Boeing-747 – the question is the level of risk imposed by the vehicle." The regulation is intended, first and foremost, to ensure flight safety and prevent collisions and damage to other aircraft and to civilians.