A contract between Israel Aerospace Industries Malat (IAI Malat) and HAL is currently pending final approval for the business terms and number of Chetak helicopter platforms are to be supplied in the first phase for conversion into Naval Rotary-wing UAVs (NRUAV), a platform that will make its first flight in September 2009. The Indian Navy will be the primary customer, though the product, to be given a name soon, is already being hawked aggressively to other countries -- obviously the benefits for both HAL and IAI are huge.
The above slides and the ensuing information are from a presentation made recently by IAI Malat at the Shephard's UV 2008 conference in London, a presentation that has also been made previously to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard, providing the first comprehensive look at the Chetak UAV.
The Chetak UAV will sport the ELTA EL/M M-2022 as its multi-mission radar payload for detection of small naval targets in high sea states, ground moving targets indication (GMTI), strip and spot SAR modes, inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR), range signature (RS), air-to-air mode, NAV and weather modes and detection of search and rescue transponder (SART). The radar incorporates a pulse-doppler airborne target detection and tracking mode: range-while-scan (RWS), detection of up to 64 airborne targets, tracking (TWS) of upto 10 airborne targets, TWS image expansion of close formation tracked targets.
The automatic identification system (AIS) provides ship data including: identification, position, course, and speed, with other nearby with ships and Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) stations.
(Will update this post later today with the remaining data and info)
Labels: Aircraft And Helicopters, Coast Guard, EQUIPMENT EXPORTS, EQUIPMENT TRIALS, HAL, Israel-Related, LiveFist Exclusive, Navy, Partnership, Photographs, Technology, UAV, Warships And Submarines