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JVs & UAVs - top Israeli military targets in UK

Danny | 25.07.2006 22:46 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Sheffield | World

'British military exports to Israel were worth £23 million last year and licences for £2 million of arms exports were granted between January and March this year.' [1]

I don't know the official military imports but it will be equally underestimated. The true figure of military imports and exports are obscured by 'Joint Ventures' between Israeli and EU companies. In every market and region Joint Ventures, often referred to as JVs, are used to avoid domestic import/export regulations and laws. They are also used to transfer technologies to foreign nations as part of geopolitical deals. When ordered by the US, Britain exported F-16 HUD technology to Israel but the use of a joint venture would have made avoided the embarrassment of that public British u-turn.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are the drones that Israel uses for assassinations, reconnaisance, artillery-targetting, surveillance and so on. They range from souped up Model aircraft with missiles to remotely-controlled full-size aircraft carrying large payloads. They are the 'Aerial Hunter/Killers' of the Terminator movies. It is standard modern battlefield kit for most armies, but the Israelis have a whole battle-proven fleet and lead most nations technologically.

An Israeli UAV & company with a paint job
An Israeli UAV & company with a paint job


An English company based in Lichfield, UAV Engines Ltd exports engines [2] for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Israel amongst other countries, [3] and is a world leader in UAV engines in this military technology.


A second UAV military dealer in England requires more attention-span to fully understand .
UAV Tactical Systems Ltd (U-TacS) is starting up just now in Leicester (and Cardigan Bay) to locally manufacture Israeli UAVs for the British Army. The 'Watchkeeper' [4] contract awarded this month last year is worth £700 million to U-TacS. U-TacS is described as a 'Thales led consortium' in the British media but in fact it is a subsidiary of Elbit who maintain a 51% control [5] . Thales are the largest private French military company, Elbit are the largest private Israeli military company. The U-TacS consortium also includes Boeing, Vega, Cobham in Wimborne, Cubic Corporation in Greenford, LogicaCMG in Leatherhead, Marshall SV in Cambridge, Praxis in Bath QinetiQ and of course UAV Engines Ltd.
U-tacs are hoping to sell the completed Watchkeeper system to France once it is operational at yet more profit to Elbit subsidised by the British taxpayer, so a French company pretending to be 'leading' the consortium is understandable, the French get Israeli UAVs subsidised by the British tax-payer.

This particular joint-venture seems to be being used to avoid judicial scrutiny over British Army arms deals with Israel and this seems to be a typical and global use of these so called 'joint-ventures'. Apartheid South Africa was supported through the sanctions by the West through similar business fictions. The false claims that this is a consortium led by Thales, a French arms company, is being used to obscure the fact the British have just bought Israeli military product ( 99 Elbit Silverfish Hermes wk-540's ) at massive expense. Deals like this mean the UK can never refuse to export arms to Israel even if they are being used against innocent civilians in case Israel reciprocates and cuts off military exports to us. Apart from this one £700 million contract, how much of the British defence budget is spent on Israeli arms ? How many 'joint-venture' Israeli-controlled arms companies are there in the UK ?

I would recommend any of these companies as the best targets for actions in protest at the Israeli slaughter in Gaza and Lebanon and at our governments complicity. Bonus points for U-tacS or UAV Engines Ltd though. I'm going to work on them myself but they deserve more hassle than just me. Just now U-tacS is recruiting [6], I don't know which part of Leicester they are located but perhaps someone local could phone and pretend to apply and ask the recruitment agency for me ?



Background aka what got me started googling : Collaborations between UK and Israeli Arms companies
 http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/countries/israel-0605.pdf

Links

[1] -  http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1078392006
[2] -  http://www.uavenginesltd.co.uk
[3} -  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm050720/wmstext/50720m02.htm#50720m02.html_spmin0
[4] -  http://www.army-technology.com/projects/watchkeeper/
[5] -  http://www.secinfo.com/drPan.v6j.htm
6] -
Job Title Mechanical Engineer
Job number 107156701
Posted 30/06/2006 (09:10)
Agency F10 Ltd
Description Mechanical Design Engineer
Location: LeicesterShire
PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
To provide Mechanical Engineering expertise to UAV Tactical Systems for the Design, Development and Qualification of the Ground based shelters, vehicles and other equipment that is supplied as part of a UAV Subsystem.
PRINCIPAL RELATIONSHIPS
· Ground Element Engineering Manager
· Ground Element Control Account Manager
· Marshalls Specialist Vehicles and other subcontractors technical representatives
· Customers' Qualification experts
· U-TacS engineering team
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
· Mechanical design of shelter and vehicle installations required as part of the WATCHKEEPER programme
· Planning and implementation of Vehicle and Shelter qualification
· Environmental analysis and specification of environmental requirements for equipment procurement
· Provide mechanical expertise to the transfer of UAV technology from Elbit systems to U-TacS
TASKS
Working as an integral part of the U-TacS engineering team with the following specific tasks:
· All aspects of mechanical design including, but not limited to:
o Concept Layout of shelters and vehicles
o Detailed layout of equipment within shelters and vehicles
o Operator console design with an emphasis on human factors
o Thermal analysis
o Stress analysis
o Environmental analysis and compliance
· Vehicle and Shelter qualification
· Leading internal design reviews
· Supporting Customer and subcontractor design reviews.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS REQUIRED
· Experience installing electronic equipment within vehicles and/or shelters
· Experience in designing equipment to survive in harsh environments
· Experience in vehicle qualification and familiarity with the relevant Defence and civil specifications
· Familiar with defence engineering specifications
· Experience of defining and managing environmental qualification testing
· Competent and experienced with stress calculations and analysis
· Competent and experienced with thermal calculations and analysis
· Familiar with the use of 3D CAD for design, specifically Pro-Engineer
· Familiar with FEA and CFD analysis tools
FORMAL AUTHORITY
· Mechanical signatory on ICDs, drawings, specifications, plans etc.
Qualifications:
· BSc or equivalent in Mechanical Engineering
· 5-10 years relevant experience working in mechanical design and qualification field.
GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
· Salary package - £32,000 to £37,000 per annum
· Hours of work - average of 37 hours per week
· Proposed working pattern - 9 day fortnight (alternate Friday's off)
· Holidays - 25 days plus 8 statutory bank holidays per annum
· Company enhanced sick pay scheme
· Pension - Stakeholder Scheme, employee and employer contributions
Location Leicestershire
Job type Permanent
Contract length N/A
Salary/rate £30000 - £38000/annum
Start date 1151974202.81034
Contact name Paul Hinton
Telephone 0845 838 1101
E-mail  paul.hinton@f10.co.uk
Ref no PH/MechEng/4175

Danny

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

Israel has right to defend itself

26.07.2006 03:13

Your actions are a waste of time, not only Israel has a right to deffend itself but in the unprobably case you succed stopping arms sales from UK to Israel they just will buy it somewhere else, so lets close down Tesco and I will go Asda.

huas


Israel versus the world

26.07.2006 08:32

 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19916610-1702,00.html

Now that Israel has deliberately bombed UN peacekeepers let us hope the civilised world pays attention to this declaration of war, invades and dismantles this failed rogue apartheid state and institutes regime change. Can you imagine the outcry if Saddam Hussien had deliberately murdered UN staff ? Can you smell the hypocracy in the news today describing Israels sick impunity from normal international standards of behaviour ? Israel is the enemy of peace and Israeli citizens and their war-mongering cheerleaders are themselves now valid targets for retribution. Any UK citizen who supports these criminals who attack on peacekeepers should be expatriated forceably to their client regime. If Blair doesn't do this, we'll do it ourselves.

Israel doesn't deserve to survive when it acts like Nazi Germany.

Anti-fascist, Anti-Israel


... fantastic resource mate ...

26.07.2006 08:49

... I will be dipping into this one lots ...

Haus ... I wonder if 'tescos' see it as you do? The analogy being that, yes, there is choice in the weapons market, but it is our duty to force that choice upon israel.

If israel has the right to defend herself then so does Palestine and Lebanon ... I can just imagine the howls of outrage should some donor country equip Hamas to the same level the amerikan tax payer equips the zionist. Its called hypocrisy.

jackslucid
mail e-mail: jackslucid@hotmail.com


violent direct action

26.07.2006 10:29

Thanks Jack, please do repost / rewrite this elsewhere, and update here if you come across similar Israeli controlled 'British' companies.

I started investigating local Israeli targets after another IM poster ( your beloved old sparring partner 'Plant' ironically - don't take the huff I'd work with anyone who is active ) texted me to recruit folk for an NVDA from the pro-Lebanese rallies at the weekend. When someone else is planning an unknown action it is always worthwhile planning your own targets too so I surfed to CAAT and Corporate Watch for hints. I posted this on IM Sheffield as it is the closest IM to U-TacS and I hope some local activists take up the case as I'm quite remote. I hinted to some of the Sheffield 911ers that this would be a suitable target for their first 911 publicity action - I hope you agree that although it's tangential to 911 it is a worthy target for anyone including 911ers. At the very least I'd recommend sabotage, harrassment and vandalism rather than just a token block. Anyone who burns these places down would be saving lives imo.

I focussed on U-TacS in my post simply because the story was becoming too complicated and unreadable but I've noticed many other Joint Venture examples that warrant investigation, enough to write a book about. Elbit also have a US subsidiary to circumvent US regulations, and this seems to be typical of Israeli arms manufacturers. Israeli arms companies have been implicated in fraud and corruption in deals with Rumania and Nigeria but then BAE are the masters of bribery so it's not a particularly Israeli problem, it is the most corrupt industry arguably after the oil industry.

Incidentally, you can find the home / work addresses of the UK engineers who worked on the 'Heads Up Displays' that the UK exported to the IDF to bomb civilians with simply by googling F-16 HUD CV as many of them post their curriculum vitae / resumes online. Doing the same for most named military projects gets results. These 'pillars of the community' go to work everyday to design and build weapons for large wages and never think of the damage they contribute to. I think the consequences of their actions should be brought to their front doors and hopefully that will help discourage the tens of thousands of willing workers in the British 'defence' industry. Beating up any bombmaker seems a rational and minimal use of violence to me. I'm sure whoever designed the cluster bomb for example is a charming and sensitive human being but I'd happily hospitalise the shit if I ever find out where he lives. In fact if we tortured him everyday for the rest of his life then it wouldn't pay back a percent of the human misery he has caused.

The anti-war movement aren't all pacifists, some of us believe in the 'retribution and deterrence' arguments of our foes and wish simply to apply their rules equally. Anyone involved in the arms trade is my enemy - even if you just clean the floors in BAE you still contribute to child-killing and are lower than a paedophile in my book. If any engineer prostitutes their intellect designing or producing military technology for filthy lucre then they should be made to fear for their life - perhaps the courts won't ever get them but there are other forms of justice. If enough people took part in NVDA then VDA would be unnecessary but while hypocrites who call for action at peace demos refuse to take part in NVDA then I feel violence is moral. Seeing photos of the children their customers killed has damaged me morally, it really boils my blood and rather than snap at the people around me I'm tracking down the culprits. I'm not proposing terrorist bombings but I am intending 'happy-slapping' a few arms-manufacturing minions. I know where they live - they are my neighbours. There are lots of ordinary people in the defence industries where I live, often claiming their jobs are justified because 'if we didn't sell them arms then someone else would' and similar crap. A paedophile could equally claim 'if I didn't abuse them then someone else would', it is a bogus and empty argument. I was brought up where I live and I avoided the defence industries and still had a career, it's time we shut these murderous industries.

I am currently working on a more local bunch of Israeli war-mongers than U-TacS but I can't post about that here as when I hit them I really will be hitting them hard. I'm disappearing for a month or so to do some shit, good luck with any actions til then.

mr. furious


Weapons education

26.07.2006 11:49

Thanks a lot for all of that,
I have been trying to learn a bit about the arms trade, just so that I can more effectively protest against it. But for the non-technically minded it's really tough. Not to mention the horror of coming face to face with the evil bastards involved. I realise it MUST BE DONE though. I finding it frustrating lately that much activism seems to broach the subject sideways-on. It would be most effective if we act against arms companies DIRECTLY, if we can, rather than say, academic boycotts, or public protests not targeted anywhere in particular.
People like you with technical knowledge need to get it out there, to people who can/ are willing to do something with that information. Please if anyone is interested and in this area get hold of this guy!
For tips on how to set up a campaign against a local arms manufacturer see www.smashedo.org.uk Thanks.

interested
- Homepage: http://www.smashedo.org.uk


Be very careful.

26.07.2006 12:17

... free your mind ...
... free your mind ...

If you have family or carer committments think carefully.

The kind of suggestions put about here will bring harsh responses.

Sometimes symbolic actions work very well.

Sometimes 'violent' actions against non-living forms is justified and obligated by a shared ethic (fuck morality ... hive instinct).

Non-violent 'harrassment' of humans is also justified in situations where their action or non action endangers or harms other lifeforms.

Occassionally violent action against the person is called for - ideally in following the bushido culy of hurt before harm, harm before injury, injury before critical injury etc.

Which ever path you choose REMEMBER TO OBEY THE FIRST LAW ...

... DON'T GET CAUGHT.

In these days of electronic policing and fascistic politics that can be quite hard - not impossible - just hard ... why even speaking thus in this place there is a price to pay ...

... so be it.

I appreciate the heads up and the reference to 'plant' makes me think what a momumental idiot I can be sometimes ... the analysis bit is quite good, the ego side shot to fuck.

Help me & forgive me.

My email address remains active for whatever contact ...

peace.

jackslucid
mail e-mail: jackslucid@hotmail.com


hmmm!!!

26.07.2006 12:34

I don't know what a bushido "culy" is, but I imagine it's something similar to a bushido code!

Its quite possible I have mispelt bushido too ...

jackslucid
mail e-mail: jackslucid@hotmail.com


Ab-Fab armageddon

26.07.2006 13:36

The arms industry seems too big for any one group to tackle, we have to break it down into chunks I guess which is why SmashEDO exists. There are so many worthy targets though. Thales, Qinetiq and BAE operate all over the UK and are equally enemies of humanity, so many different arms-industry related issues leads back to those three corporations in my experience. We should concentrate on our local ones but also help out others campaigns.

You don't have to be technical to google CV + whatever, it is amazing that these people advertise their occupations, you can find out all sorts of useful technical info too from their 'job experience'. I know Nazi Germany documented their crimes using IBMs, these modern equivalents immortalise their complicity on the internet. It's an amazing security blunder that I intend to take full advantage of.

I realise product placement is frowned upon but if you want to easily fit names to addresses then the UK-Info CDs are essential. You can download pirated versions but you need to be technical to make the pirates work so maybe consider buying them.  http://www.192.com/products The results are impressive but you still need to check the peoples identity face to face as the CD includes deliberate false information for security services staff as well also some normal errors (ie my own address is listed incorrectly which is why I feel comfortable publicising it I guess! ). If the SmashEDO campaign need a copy then say and I will post one to you. You should use it on a secure PC unconnected to the internet so that noone can hack in and read your targets in advance. If anyone else already uses InfoDisk then i would recommend getting the professional copies from a number of years, as the data varies interestingly and you can check out peoples movements over time. I haven't published anyones addresses here because I imagine even IM could get serious legal repercussions from such a post but if anyone needs it done, tell me who you are after and why and an email address and I'll list some possible addresses worth checking out. It is to activists what lexus-nexus is to journalists, a goldmine of information.

You can google the name of the BT engineer who implemented Britains nuclear alert in the UK, and his home address is obvious on UK-Info. If nukes are flying towards ther UK then we don't have sirens anymore, everyone gets a simultaneous pre-recorded phonecall from Joanna Lumley to tell you to kiss your arse goodbye, although the system phones important citizens first to give them time to flee before the panic. I kid you not, Joanna Lumley is the last voice many of us will hear in the event of armaggedon I proposed kidnapping the engineer and forcing him to hack into the system ( engineers ALWAYS leave backdoors or at least know their systems vunerabilities best ) or having a Joanna Lumley impersonator telephone the 'important citizens' (military, councillors, rich shits etc) and panicking them just for a laugh. I was told by a much more respectable protestor that this wasn't non-violent and could accidentally trigger a nuclear exchange so I refrained, but the information is publicly available and it seems a shame not to use it.


"I appreciate the heads up and the reference to 'plant' makes me think what a momumental idiot I can be sometimes...Help me & forgive me"
Don't worry about it, Plant is a bigger gobshite than me so feel free to rip into him. It was me who first accused him of being a MI5 plant after an argument over CCTV. Back then I tricked him into arguing into police CCTV in every livingroom but I still got to know him when he volunteered for an action and recently I heard him threaten to 'shoot out' a surveillance CCTV camera placed overlooking his peace camp ! It's okay to have big arguments and rows with anyone on any subject as long as you can work together against humanities real enemies when push comes to shove. I'd be happy to be arrested with any poster here on NVDA although I'd only work with people I've known all my life on any act that carried a substantial prison term, call that paranoia if you want. I still don't know if Plant is a plant as he isn't worth checking out, real Plants don't sabotage the sort of low-level actions we aspire to together. He is certainly active and positive in person - I bet a penny to a pound he was in on the Coulport block reported below (shrubbery ?) although he may be pissed off at me blowing his cover / exposing his modesty.

angryDan


Sorry all Micheals

26.07.2006 19:45

Forgive my mistake all the Micheals out, there are a handful of Micheals in the UK. Dyslexic parents I suppose, or Irish more likely, that's a gaellic-spelling. Only one within distance of Birmingham Uni. I will leave blanks to avoid misidentifying someone online, but this is the first address I'd check if you do pique my interest I can be down in about 3.5 hours. I'd check if you've moved first, and I'd check you are who you claim to be, but that'd only take minutes.

MICHEAL R COOPER
M------- DRIVE
REDDITCH
B97 ----

You might think you want a piece of me Micheal but you probably don't. I'm not going to walk up to you and challenge you to a fair fight or a duel. Once I identify you beyond all doubt I'll just take my hate for my society out on you. You have just admitted to helping kill children for profit to my ears at least and I have just admitted to be gunning for folk like you. To be honest someone like you would be way down my list of targets but if any of you defence workers do want to step in line, post a time and place and a photo and a confession /cv of yourself here because I can't be arsed driving down to beat you up with out further encouragement / proof of crime. I've got harder and more evil targets
than you in my sights, though I'll try and accomodate all. In fact, please post your bosses photo too to make my trip worthwhile. You'll recognise me, I'll be the guy with the unkempt hair, the bad smile and the brick.

Danny Boy


Black Aircraft X-Files and a UFO for sale.

28.07.2006 15:19

Affordable Spy-in-the-Sky for 'Human Target Tracking'
Affordable Spy-in-the-Sky for 'Human Target Tracking'

UK MoD document hints at covert aircraft programmes
 http://www.janes.com/aerospace/military/news/jdw/jdw060628_1_n.shtml
"
A newly declassified UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) report suggests that unacknowledged "black" US aircraft may have operated in UK airspace before 2000.
Prepared by the Defence Intelligence Staff, the report examines unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) in the UK Air Defence Region. UAP is the MoD's preferred term for what are popularly known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs. One section of the document, dated 2000, states that: "Some UAP reports can be attributed to covert aircraft programmes." It describes and illustrates a number of Western programmes, including the SR-71, F-117 and B-2, but two paragraphs and two illustrations have been removed. Codes next to the excised material indicate that it had been removed in the interests of international relations, presumably because of US involvement.
"


I once drove under a UFO. The RAF term for UFO is UAP, and that is a better three letter acronym as if something is undentified then you cannot know it is flying. We don't refer to clouds as flying. The RAF take UAP seriously, and at least pretend to believe most are plasma phenomena due to air particulates close to a charged aircraft. There are multi-radar tracks of UAPs moving and disappearing and the phenomena has caused crashes, although no proven RAF crashes. However any plasma phenomena are a quite seperate from foriegn test aircraft being flown secretly through UK airspace. It's good to see finally some small official admission that a lot of UFO reports have been generated by covert US aircraft programmes.

The term 'black aircraft' refer to any advanced military craft in development that haven't been acknowledged in budgets, so 'black' as in their hidden or black budgets. Conveniently or coincidentally they also all seem to be painted black too, presumably for stealth

I was searching for MoD Freedom Of Information releases on UAVs and came across that report for the first time. The MoD FoI site (  http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FreedomOfInformation ) is worth checking every now and then but it is hard to search through due to a poor interface and all the documents being PDFs.

The MoD UAP report referred to by Janes Defence Weekly is certainly informative and interesting, although the xxxxxxxxxxxxxx censored parts explains the term X-Files.

 http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FreedomOfInformation/PublicationScheme/SearchPublicationScheme/UnidentifiedAerialPhenomenauapInTheUkAirDefenceRegion.htm



I was driving a country road home one starlit evening and I saw what looked from a distance to be a parked car with it's headlights on at the top of the steep hill I was approaching. Courting couples sometimes parked there so I paid no attention. You know the odd sensation you have climbing stairs in the dark where you put your foot out for an expected stair only to find yourself already at the top ? That was what I felt driving up the hill when I realised what I thought was a parked car was actually a craft direcly above the road. It was either hovering or moving directly towards me incredibly slowly. It was black against the stars but the bright 'headlights' beams ruined my night-vision to a degree. I slowed my car and tried to see what I was approaching, and to be honest I was a young boy again watching 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in the cinema. I realised I was about to stall the car, and I've have fainted with fear if that had happened and probably awaken scared that I'd been probed. Instead I revved up, turned off the radio and drove underneath it. The headlights shot up to a horizontal position, or so it seemd. It was dark against the stars again through the sunroof. The craft seemed to be only about 10m above me, and seemed to be bigger than the large stealth aircraft. There wasn't any jet engines underneath it nor heat nor noticeable down draft. It didn't sound like an aircraft, it had a quiet, rumbling, more like a grindstone in a mill rather than a helicopter or other aircraft I was familiar with. As I accelerated towards the craft it began to accelarate towards me at
As soon as I had passed under the craft and nothing happened, I recovered my courage and did a handbreak turn. The craft was gone. I had enough of a clear view of the valley that the craft must have accelerated from stationary at incredibly high speed to have disappeared completely but that maybe isn't what happened.
My job took me to work at lots of airports including military sites, and so I was aware of unmanned drone aircraft (UAVs aka RPVs) in operation but I hadn't seen any. In the seconds it took me to turn back time I was sure it was a military craft. The reason for this was they were certainly halogen headlights. I've seen the beams of light that california police helicopters use to identify and blind suspects at night, these lights were nothing like that. If an alien species ever does visit earth then I expect them to have better headlight technology that you can buy in Halfords. I get the impression from my own experience this was a deliberate attempt by a UAV groundpilot having some fun freaking out a few country bumpkins with their souped-up model aircraft deliberately 'acting like a flying saucer' as there were other local sightings over a period of a few years and some wit even put up a homemade 'Low flying UFO road sign.

There is plenty of information out there on different defence manufacturers websites of their own covert surveillance UAVs. However the craft I drove under 10 years ago gave the impression of silent and inertialess flight beyond any publicly available information of such vehicles. If it had been hovering outside your house you wouldn't have heard it yet it was a large craft. I'll include some more scary links from NewsScientist on UAVs, including nuclear powered UAVs. They have been deployed in various military and intelliegnce roles for many decades but now you can buy your own one for less than the price of a car. Okay, it's just a space-age model aircraft personal-spy-in-the-sky but I bet you could generate a lot of UFO reports using this thing - I'd love to know how many have been sold and to whom. If you don't see why you should be scared of this toy, watch the companies video demonstrating 'Human Target Tracking'.


 http://www.infrared1.com/UAV_N.html
"
Electric Surveillance Infrared UAV (Unmanned Arial Vehicle)
The newest addition to the NightSight family is the IR-225 compact thermal imager. This new unit shatters the $10k barrier to bring you quality thermal imaging at the greatest possible value. The E2 electric powered UAV is a breakthrough in design and function. Capable of longer mission times and higher payload capacities than any other electric Micro-UAV available. The micro UAV is perfect for applications in crowded urban areas. The system can be easily flown at a local park or even from a city street. Once airborne the system proceeds to its pre-programmed GPS points and lands at it\'s predetermined location.

Height 3 1/4"
Length 33 1/2"
Wing Span 72"
Weight 6 Pounds
Construction Unidirectional Graphite
Max Altitude 5000'
Range 100 miles
Endurance 3 Hours (Depending on Payload)
Cruise Speed 30 knots
Stall Speed 15 knots
Maximum Speed 88 knots
Propulsion Ultra Quiet Electric Motor
Payload Electrical 325 Watts
Payload Weight 6 Pounds
Payload Description Battery - Equipment - Sensor Packages
Hourly Operating Cost $2.77
Time Before Overhaul 3000 Hours
Overhaul Cost $3,600
Standard Equipment (1) On-Board Autonomous Operation - CCD Video Camera - On-Board Digital Recording
Standard Equipment (2) Real Time Video to Ground Station Transmission - In Flight Telemetry w/Data Logging - 12 Channel GPS
STandard Equipment (3) Autonomous Take Off and Landing
Optional Equipment (1) Low Light Video Camera - High Performance Thermal Camera
Optional Equipment (2) Radiometric (Temperature Measurement) Thermal Camera - Laser Designation - Target Detection and Coun
Optional Equipment (3) Custom Solutions to Your Specifications
"



Nuclear-powered drone aircraft on drawing board
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3406

The US Air Force is examining the feasibility of a nuclear-powered version of an unmanned aircraft. The USAF hopes that such a vehicle will be able to "loiter" in the air for months without refuelling, striking at will when a target comes into its sights. But the idea is bound to raise serious concerns about the wisdom of flying radioactive material in a combat aircraft. If shot down, for instance, would an anti-aircraft gunner in effect be detonating a dirty bomb? It raises political questions, too. Having Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) almost constantly flying over a region would amount to a new form of military intimidation, especially if they were armed,


Safety fears over pilotless planes
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3868

Advocates of UAVs say these controls are far stricter than they need to be. The Pentagon admits that the Global Hawk UAV has a crash rate more than 50 times that of F-16 piloted fighter jets, and has set a target to reduce this by 2009 (see graph). Even then, the 25 crashes per 100,000 flying hours that the Pentagon is aiming for will still exceed that of piloted planes.


Pilotless plane to fly routinely in civilian airspace
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4080

The US Air Force's Global Hawk became the first pilotless aeroplane to be given permission to fly routinely in civilian airspace on Thursday.


Disc-shaped spyplane could hunt for terrorists
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1859

What looks like a flying saucer, takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane? The next remote-controlled surveillance aircraft on the hunt for terrorist fugitives like Osama bin Laden, apparently....The vehicle could be used by police for surveillance, or to track pollution and map terrain, he says.


The next 100 years of flight - part one
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4483

Boeing's philosophy in terms of commercial travel is focused on point-to-point travel. At Phantom Works we try to think further out, to the extreme version of point-to-point, which would be personal transportation vehicles where you can have this thing take off and land from your driveway.


Wing-sprouting drone
 http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2006/04/wing-sprouting-drone.html

But Daryl Elam of Arizona, US, is working on a drone that needs no fuel for take-off. It could simply be shot into the air like a shell, before sprouting wings for normal flight.


Uncrewed combat plane prototypes revealed
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8596

Robo-planes fight for airtime
 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825276.400

Danny


Israeli families moving into Leics

06.09.2006 17:52

Specifically to work for this company, I know of 2 families who have moved from Israel within the last year to our town to work at UAV Tactical Systems Ltd (U-TacS). They must be there long term as kids are going to schools.....


....what to do?

zammo


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