Page 24 - ADT MARCH / APRIL 2020 Digital Magazine | GBP

as vehicles, tanks, concrete fortifications and target less than one meter.”
personnel in populated urban areas or remote The Hero-120 and Hero-400 LMs, which have room for a warhead
locations with minimal collateral damage. It has and a parachute, can be recovered used, but the Hero-30 cannot,
endurance of over an hour and a loitering range because of size limitations. “We have a parachute version of the
of 40km. Hero-30 for training, which can be recovered,” says Cohen.”
“This is the next thing is in the world of muni-
tions and people realize that,” says Shane Expansion Opportunities
Cohen, UVision Vice President, Marketing & North America and Asia are two lucrative markets that UVision [ LOITERING MUNITIONS ]
Sales. “Artillery, mortar and anti-tank are all is eager to capture. The U.S. Marine Corps have launched a pro-
good, but they are all limited to a specific type gram to procure LMs to replace their 120mm mortars while the
of mission and a specific concept of operation. U.S. Special Operations Command is interested in adding them to
Loitering munitions give the flexibility that you some of the U.S. Navy’s stealthy special operations boats. Among
need as they are flying around. They have got the countries in Asia that are approved to buy the LMs are the
an electrooptic payload as well as day and night Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. The Indian JV opens
camera; you are getting all your intelligence. up possibilities in India.
Once you have seen the target, you can strike “The U.S. market has a few programmes out there where they
with the same platform as it has a warhead built have specified the need for loitering munitions,” says Cohen. “The
into it. You can attack in whatever direction and Marines and the Special Operations need them. The U.S. Army is
angle you want. It is a suicide drone.” looking for loitering munities too; LMAMS (Lethal Miniature Aerial
Missile System) is a big programme here.”
The Hero-30 LM, which has electric engines
lithium-ion batteries as the other LMs in the Standing out
series, has an operational height of 1000 feet The capabilities of its systems make UVision stand out in a compet-
or 300 meters. The weapon operates below itive market, says Cohen. “There are four countries with systems
the clouds, thus making it operational even on that they have marked as loitering munitions. Some have taken
a cloudy day, in contrast to UAVs that fly much a normal UAV and put in a warhead while others have taken a
higher up. quadcopter and put on a payload. Our systems have a gimbaled
payload; you can go 360 degrees around the target and keep your
Silent and Invisible eyes on the target. Most of the competitors use a fixed camera;
The risk of the LM getting attacked are slim to they cannot go around the target and look all the time.”
none, says Cohen. “There is a risk of getting
attacked if the enemy knows you are there.
For that to happen, they have to see you, hear
you or see you on the radar. It is impossible
for the human eye to see the weapon at their
height. We are using electric engines that are
virtually silent. The radar cross section is very
small because of three factors - we are using
composite materials; the weapon is small in
size and we are flying at a relatively low speed.
Normal anti-aircraft radars are calibrated for
finding aircraft that fly fast. They discard our
weapon as birds or something similar.”
The portable and modular Hero-120, which
delivers critical situational awareness with its The Israeli Army has acquired the Hero-30 and is testing the Hero-
advanced data link and real-time intelligence, 400. “They are looking at all of our systems,” says Cohen. “One of
has three unique capabilities that no other the good things about these systems is that throughout the ranks
system in the world has, says Cohen. “It gives in different echelons, you can use the same operating system on all
you a top attack capability. All other companies different munitions. Someone in the front can use his Hero 30 that
that have taken a normal UAV and put in a war- is carried on his back, but if he needs something bigger, someone
head cannot do a top attack angle. This one can fire a Hero 400 from the back, and he can take control of it on
can do a full abort. It can come in at a top attack his Hero-30 operating system.”
angle and at the last second go up into a full The company is working on adding new capabilities to existing
abort and enter loitering mode again. Because systems, says Cohen. “We have another product in the works;
it has four wings at the front and the back, you Hero-900 is on the drawing board already. We hope to have it
care getting pinpoint accuracy, even when you ready for the market by end of 2020. The Hero-900 will have a
have windy conditions around the target. We bigger warhead and more endurance. We have the ability to tailor
have above 90 percent average of hitting the the weapon according to the needs of the customer.”

24 | March/April 2020 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ ADT