IDF unveils new miniature surveillance planes

[pinkeye]

IDF unveils new miniature surveillance planes

By The Associated Press



The Israel Defense Forces is equipping its forces with a new range of spy drones small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack, including one that weighs less than a can of soda, the army said Thursday




The Israel Air Force has frequently used larger unmanned spy planes to track and target Palestinian militants during airstrikes. The new mini-drones would also give army forces in the field on-the-spot access to aerial intelligence.

The small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) and the futuristic looking micro UAV's were displayed Thursday at a conference held by the army's Ground Force Command on low intensity conflicts.

The new baby drones have already been supplied to some ground units. The portable planes give the units almost immediate access to aerial photographs "when the need arises," a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We use them to take aerial photographs of the (Palestinian) territories," he said.

On display Thursday were the BIRDY and the Spy There mini-drone,s produced by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).

BIRDY - with a weight of 1.3 kilograms (3 pounds) - can be carried and launched by a single soldier, who guides the drone by clicking on coordinates on a laptop computer. It has a five-kilometer (three-mile) range, IAI said.

The slightly larger Spy There is operated by a two man crew and has twice the range, IAI said. Both UAV's can fly for an hour while transmitting pictures back to their operators.

IAI also displayed two prototype micro-drones, the Mosquito and the Mosquito 1.5. These tiny spy gadgets weigh a mere 250 grams (9 ounces) and 500 grams (18 ounces) each.

The Mosquito, equipped with a miniature video camera, has already completed several successful 40-minute trial flights, IAI said.

The army currently rents the drones from IAI but has issued a contact offer to supply them with the small UAV's, the official said.

[big80a2]

The palies came up with there countermesure:

http://home.planet.nl/~jurri003/raadfoto/raadfoto103A.jpg

[S'13]

Not long ago the IDF revealed a plan made by Palestinian terrorists to use UAV's loaded with explosives in order to attack Israeli targets.

[IDFM203]

Thanks for the post pinkeye :D ....(I never though Id say that to you p-) )

ok I found a nice pic of one of the miniature UAV’s that were mentioned.

http://194.90.48.41/STORAGE/files///3//29653.jpg

Israel Aircraft Industries is involved in development of micro UAVs such as the Mosquito 1.



The first flight was on January 1st , 2003. The Mosquito 1 weighs 250 gram with wing span of about 30 cm. The Mosquito 1 carried a miniature video camera and performed several flights with up to 40 minutes endurance each.


Within a couple of weeks, Mosquito 1.5- is scheduled to perform a flight test.
The weight of the Mosquito 1.5 is less than 500 gram. It will carry improved avionics, enabling fully autonomous flight. The maximum endurance is about one hour with an enhanced video camera.


For more pics of the other UAV;s mentioned from IAI and some other IAI products that were on display for that LIC conference click Here (http://www.iai.co.il/LIC/en/iai.asp?pi=28164)

Btw on that conference, we had a thread the other day by pretorian669 with tons of great pics, for that click Here (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10981) or click Here (http://www.idf-lic2004.org/) for the official link from the IDF on it.

Shalom :D

[pinkeye]

Thanks for the post pinkeye :D ....(I never though Id say that to you p-) )

despite what you may think, from a strictly military point of view, i'm a big fan of the idf and israeli security services in general. i personally believe more militaries should follow the lead of israel in numerous areas...

[HELEX]

Aladin Drone is a bit like that.

Tested in Kabul at the moment.

http://www.deutschesheer.de/relaunch/Contentbase2.nsf/c1256e550036568ac1256982003b7e87/53e4b18d2327bb8bc1256db800251eaf/body/0.BC2?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=jpg

http://www.deutschesheer.de/relaunch/Contentbase2.nsf/c1256e550036568ac1256982003b7e87/53e4b18d2327bb8bc1256db800251eaf/body/23.2EFA?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=jpg

http://www.deutschesheer.de/relaunch/Contentbase2.nsf/c1256e550036568ac1256982003b7e87/53e4b18d2327bb8bc1256db800251eaf/body/39.4620?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=jpg

http://www.deutschesheer.de/relaunch/Contentbase2.nsf/c1256e550036568ac1256982003b7e87/53e4b18d2327bb8bc1256db800251eaf/body/10.3756?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=jpg

http://www.deutschesheer.de/relaunch/Contentbase2.nsf/c1256e550036568ac1256982003b7e87/53e4b18d2327bb8bc1256db800251eaf/body/16.3E08?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=jpg

http://www.deutschesheer.de/relaunch/Contentbase2.nsf/c1256e550036568ac1256982003b7e87/53e4b18d2327bb8bc1256db800251eaf/body/34.4370?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=jpg

[W(M)D]

The 'bad boys' will have nowhere to hide and their counter measures to the most ingenious military in the world will take some thinking. You can just see those things buzzing down Gaza High St on the prowl.

[Commander Cool]

The portable planes give the units almost immediate access to aerial photographs
Wouldn't it be more practical to simply access a satellite with their laptop in order to get an aerial view? Or would that not be possible due to satellites not having sufficient resolution because they're too high up.

[W(M)D]

These things will be able to get in close. May be there is a variant which can carry some form of lighweight but lethal payload?? Besides surveillance you can be sure that they will be used for all sorts of operations.

[citizen-k]

The portable planes give the units almost immediate access to aerial photographs
Wouldn't it be more practical to simply access a satellite with their laptop in order to get an aerial view? Or would that not be possible due to satellites not having sufficient resolution because they're too high up.

1. satellites not having sufficient resolution
2. a satellite is limited with the numbers of photos it can take at a time so in war terms it will be useless (imagen 200 soldiers asking for a picture in the same time)
3. satellites are useless when there are clouds (even if its a clear day)

And wars, well, especially in the middle east are usually when there are clouds but its not too cold yet. (the summer heat takes out the motivation to fight and the winter is too cold for us)

as in a well know song (translated): "Wars, no longer take place during the summer, even for us its too damn hot to conquer..."

rofl

(99% of Israeli singers are lefties...)

[citizen-k]

These things will be able to get in close. May be there is a variant which can carry some form of lighweight but lethal payload?? Besides surveillance you can be sure that they will be used for all sorts of operations.

ever seen this before?

http://uploaded.fresh.co.il/3f954cc4761924b5.jpg

[W(M)D]

Yup, seen that before
FYI - These mini drones are intended for issue to battalion level.

[Uncle Chô]

The palies came up with there countermesure:

http://home.planet.nl/~jurri003/raadfoto/raadfoto103A.jpg rofl rofl rofl

[WARPIG]

Lot's of similar technology in the US for this kind of thing.. we can buy retail versions of rotor winged UAVs with cameras.. but I haven't heard of many units using them or anything similar being issued.

One thing I have seen in concept is a UAV that is fired like a rocket from vehicles that look like MLRS or Linebackers.

I agree with Pinkeye on this one... many militaries could take a logistics queue from the IDF. Unfortunately, the US ARMY is too big to just jump into stuff like that. Just fielding new equipment that is approved takes years.