IDF Purchases IAI’s SDR Airborne Radios for UAVs, Allows Shore-Based Hailing of Maritime Vessels
Israel Aerospace Industries has been awarded a contract, by competitive tender, to provide the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with airborne radios, for installation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that operate in maritime patrol missions over the Israeli Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ). Installed on Heron-type UAVs, they allow shore-based Navy personnel to hail vessels within the EEZ and to communicate with them directly.
The radios, model ARC840 SDR, are developed and manufactured by ELTA Systems Ltd., IAI’s defense electronics division. Based on advanced Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology, the radios support voice, video and data communications, and are able to communicate in a wide variety of communications protocols and modulations enabling forces in the land, air and sea to collaborate—linking between varied communications methods in the separate domains. The ARC840 radio forms part of IAI’s product suite for UAV communications, comprising SDR radios, SATCOM, and Line-Of-Sight (LOS) communications systems.
IAI’s product line of airborne communications suites is well established, with several decades of operational experience. To date, IAI’s systems have been installed on hundreds of aerial platforms – both manned and unmanned – and have accumulated hundreds of thousands of hours in operational and combat environments. These systems have been provided in cooperation with leading platform manufacturers including IAI, Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Dassault Aviation, and others.
“Collaboration between different forces, in separate domains of operation, requires interoperability between different and disparate communications systems,” said VP & GM, IAI ELTA’s Intelligence, Communications, and Electronic Warfare Division, Adi Dulberg. “ELTA’s SDR technology, supporting multiple channels, modulations, and networks, serves as a crucial link between networks, enabling forces in the land, air and sea to collaborate effectively. We are proud to be selected by the IDF to support the Israeli Air Force and Navy in their day-to-day missions.”