Israel Aerospace to Provide Special Mission Aircraft to a NATO Member Country $200M

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) said it signed a contract valued at over $200 million to provide Special Mission Aircraft to a country in Europe, which is a NATO member country.

The Special Mission Aircraft will be developed by IAI’s Group and subsidiary ELTA Systems.

The special mission aircraft comes with miniaturized sensor technologies alongside algorithms and software applications based on Artificial Intelligence (AI & ML), on the basis of which the highly advanced intelligence systems are integrated on business jets. Prior to this, most special mission aircraft utilized large cargo or commercial aircraft.

IAI-ELTA offers four lines of Special-Mission Aircraft:

AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control) Aircraft utilizing AESA radar and IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe), SIGINT and Communication systems to generate and disseminate an Air and Maritime Situational Picture. It also contains an Air Battle Management and Strike Aircraft Guidance System. ELTA’s CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) aircraft is fitted with a dual band AESA radar providing complete uncompromised 360° azimuthal coverage and is an example of a leading in the class system based on a business jet. IAI has entered into cooperation agreements with Embraer to develop and market additional AEW&C aircraft variants.

AGS (Air to Ground Surveillance) aircraft using advanced AESA SAR/GMTI radar, SIGINT and EO/IR sensors and an Intelligence Management System to cover large areas, providing real- time detection, identification, tracking and distribution of surface targets from standoff range in all weather and visibility conditions. A leading product in this category is the IAI-ELTA MARS2 Multi Mission Aircraft that includes a breakthrough Digital AESA SAR/GMTI radar and latest generation SIGINT integrated with an advanced Multi-INT system, carried by a business jet.

MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft) equipped with high performance AESA radar, SIGINT and EO/IR sensors to create an up-to-date maritime picture during search-and-rescue missions, maritime patroling, environmental monitoring, Anti Surface Warfare (ASuW) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) in support of Naval and Coast Guard operations. IAI-ELTA’s MPAs are based on business jets and turboprop platforms featuring the IAI-ELTA mission systems that include ELM-2022 radar family.

SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) aircraft monitor the electromagnetic spectrum to detect and accurately locate emitter arrays and communication networks. IAI-ELTA has developed and provided advanced SIGINT aircraft to the IDF on business jet platforms and supplied airborne SIGINT systems to many Special Mission Aircraft.