On Valentine’s Day, Babcock Australasia and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced the start of a special relationship. The two parties signed an MoU encompassing UAV solutions for law enforcement, maritime surveillance and disaster management within Australia.
This MoU will enable the in-country demonstration of two different UAVs, the WanderB-VTOL and ThunderB-VTOL, sometime in 2023. In these demonstrations, the partners will pursue operational concepts suited to state and federal agencies.
More than 250 of these vertical take-off and landing UAVs are already flying worldwide.
Peter Newington, Babcock’s Director of Aviation and Critical Services, said, ‘This partnership with IAI is about bringing together solutions that are the best fit for our customers, integrating our rotary capabilities with RPAs to deliver the most effective and cost-efficient solutions.’
Newington pointed out that Babcock already holds a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operator’s Certificate, which will facilitate WanderB-VTOL and ThunderB-VTOL flights in Australia.
Yonatan Segev, IAI Australia’s Managing Director, commented: ‘From the tactical WanderB-VTOL and ThunderB-VTOL systems to the medium-altitude long-endurance Maritime Heron, IAI looks forward to bringing the most advanced technology together with our partners in Babcock to offer unique operational solutions to customers.’
The mention of the Maritime Heron is interesting. The RAAF flew Heron UAVs for a number of years until they were retired in June 2017.
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