Size Matters: Elbit’s Hermes 900 MALE UAV

Hermes 900

Elbit Systems has enjoyed considerable domestic and export success with its Hermes 450, which sits at the smaller end of the MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) UAV spectrum. As UAVs proved themselves, Elbit wasn’t interested in ceding the market for larger and more capable MALE UAVs to the likes of IAI and General Atomics.

They invested company funds to create the larger Hermes 900, but those kinds of investments eventually need a buyer. In 2010, their home country of Israel stepped up, and became the anchor buyer for this system. They weren’t the last. A comparison with the popular Hermes 450 is instructive…

Fire & Fallout: Norway’s Mine-Resistant Iveco LMVs

LMV in Afghanistan

After some bad experiences with its up-armored Mercedes “Gelendevagen” in Afghanistan, Norway decided that they needed patrol vehicles with better protection. In 2006, therefore, they placed an order for 25 blast-resistant Iveco MLV/LMV vehicles, which are called Lynx by the Italians and Panther by the UK.

Deliveries began in 2006, and the vehicle’s performance in Afghanistan has led to additional orders over the years. A 2013 buy brings Norway’s order total to 170.

Samson’s Wings: Israel Orders ‘Special’ C-130J-30s

Israeli C-130

In July 2008, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Israel’s request to buy up to 9 stretched C-130J-30 aircraft, which will replace some of the aging C-130 aircraft that Israel made famous in its 1976 commando raid at Entebbe, Uganda.

It took some time, but Israel finally became the 13th C-130J customer nation in April 2010. Appropriately, Israel’s new “Samson” planes will contain a number of features associated with the new special forces variants bought by India and the USA. The program of up to 9 planes looks like it will take a while to finish, though…

Rapid Fire Jan. 29, 2013: Vaporware, For Real

• BAE will cut 300 jobs across 5 US states, two thirds of which at their Electronic Systems site in Nashua, NH, where 50 people were already laid off last year.

• US AFRICOM is pondering establishing a base to operate UAVs out of a northwest African country such as Niger or Burkina Faso, according to the NYT.

• DARPA is interested in cheap, disposable electronic microsystems that could be used to create large networks of sensors that would biodegrade after they have accomplished their purpose. A Proposers’ Day will take place on Feb. 14 in Arlington, VA. They call it Vanishing, Programmable Resources (VAPR) and must be commended for acknowledging they are literally working on vaporware.

• The US Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) is researching whether they could host their payloads on commercial spacecraft and will host an Industry Day for that purpose on Feb. 19-21 in El Segundo, CA.

• The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Japan has stepped up its monitoring of the disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.

• The Brazilian defense market: big, growing, tantalizing, seemingly open but competitive and hard to get into [FT - reg. required].

• The Argentinian defense market… none of the above. Argentina’s defense minister Arturo Puricelli does not rule out sabotage to explain how the ARA Trinidad destroyer sank in port [in Spanish]. Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. Alas, President Cristina Kirchner’s doll was touring Asia at the time so she couldn’t help.