Israel Aerospace Industries is expanding its activities in Brazil through the partnership with local, strategic defense partners. “IAI sees South America in general, and Brazil in particular, as a ‘growth engine’, and offers a large spectrum of products, backed by wide technological knowhow.” Joseph Weiss, IAI’s President and CEO said “Through working in Brazil extensively for the last few years, we have been exposed to the country’s unique needs and requirements. IAI plans to expand its activities in Brazil by means of cooperation with local companies.
Radar that sees beyond the horizon
Through its partnership with Iacit IAI is promoting comprehensive naval and homeland security capabilities, applicable to Blue Amazon Managing System (SisGAAz). One of these systems is the EZ-Guard ELM2270 Over the Horizon (OTH) radar project that broke ground last month at a coastal site in the South of Brazil. Backed up by transfer of technological knowhow from IAI-ELTA, the project is being conducted with the support of the Brazilian Navy.
These advanced maritime surveillance features are combined with IACIT’s oceanic environmental HF capacities. IACIT has been developing an HF Radar solution since 2010 for oceanic environmental weather and sea surface surveillance, as well as pollution control and to assist prediction of environmental hazards such as storms and tsunamis.
The radar system is developed with the support of the Brazilian Federal Funding Authority for Studies and Projects (FINEP) and with the technological cooperation of IAI’s ELTA Group.
Operating in the High-Frequency (HF) band the new radar employs surface-wave propagation to provide continuous surveillance of the sea surface well beyond the horizon, up to 200 nautical miles (370km) range. The radar employs phased array technology and unique interference cancellation techniques which provide reliable and persistent coverage of the broader maritime area at all times, regardless of atmospheric conditions or sea state.
“The technological development process requires time and considerable financial resources, depending on the complexity of the project. The expected assimilation of technology, including by the National Defense Strategic (END), provides a significant leap for technologies already tested outside Brazil with validated solutions. In the case of a Strategic Defense Company (EED) such as IACIT, transfer of technology and know-how are mandatory to ensure continuous production in Brazil. said IACIT president Luiz Teixeira. “The OTH development has propelled IACIT’s capabilities years forward and will provide a strategic advantage for the Brazilian Navy as well as important lifesaving information for environmental control agencies”.
“We view this project as an important milestone towards persistent, affordable, reliable and efficient coverage of a broad Brazilian maritime area”, said Mr. Nisim Hadas, IAI Executive VP & ELTA president.
IAI’s Heron turned into Caçadors
Another UAV project in Brazil is “Caçador”, an evolution of the IAI Heron I into a Brazilian-made Medium Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) UAV. Heron I is operational in Brazil since 2010, operated by the federal police. Caçador UAV is based on this operational experience, to meet the specific requirements of Brazil.
Caçador will be equipped with an automatic takeoff and landing system (ATOL) and equipped to operate in civilian controlled airspace, as has already practiced with Heron I in Brazil and elsewhere. Caçador will carry multiple payloads for line-of-sight missions or beyond line of sight using satellite communications.
The manufacturing will take place in Brazil. IAI has teamed with Avionics Services of Brazil which is currently inducting the maintenance and support of the system at Botucatu airfield in Sao Paolo. European Advanced Technology (EAT), an Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) subsidiary, has acquired minority holding in the Avionics Services in 2014, as part of IAI’s strategic investment in the Brazilian defense market. The cooperation agreement’s main target markets are defense and public security projects primarily for the Brazilian market, which may potentially be extended to international markets in the future. Under the cooperation agreement between the two companies Avionics Services will provide marketing and manufacturing of aircraft systems, unmanned aerial systems, sensors supporting upgrades of aerial platforms.
