India's Mahindra Defense and Israeli drone developer Aeronautics Ltd. (TASE: ARCS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner for naval shipborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Aeronautics and Mahindra announced that they will offer a UAV system that can be launched and recovered from Indian warships.
Based in Yavne, south of Tel Aviv, Aeronautics provides integrated turnkey solutions based on unmanned systems platforms, payloads and communications for defense and civil applications. Aeronautics is the OEM of the Orbiter series of UAVs which has been sold in many countries globally.
The Aeronautics Orbiter 4 is an advanced multi-mission platform with an ability to carry and operate two different payloads simultaneously. With an open architecture, the Orbiter 4 can be specially adjusted to the needs of each mission. Among the different payloads the Orbiter 4 can carry are maritime patrol radar (MPR), cellular interception sensor, satellite communication, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), automatic identification system (AIS) and advanced electro-optic payload. Orbiter 4 capabilities include maximum endurance of up to 24 hours, maximum take-off weight of 50 kilograms, and maximum flight altitude of 18,000 feet while operating different payloads.
Mahindra Defense and Aeronautics have entered into this partnership to offer the maritime version of Orbiter 4 to the Indian Navy. The UAV will carry state of the art sensor payloads as required by Indian Navy and will be capable of being launched and recovered from small warships that do not have a helicopter deck including small warships that are around 50 meters in length. This UAV will be a force multiplier for the Indian Navy.
Aeronautics CEO Amos Mathan said, "Aeronautics has entered into this partnership to offer the maritime version of Orbiter 4 to Indian Navy. We will work together with Mahindra Defense to manufacture Orbiter UAVs in India. We are ready for transfer of technology and transfer of production line in India. This is a sign of Aeronautics’ commitment to India by offering our newest and most advanced aerial solutions for operations by Indian Navy - one of the best navies in the world."
Mahindra Group Aerospace & Defense Sector group president and Mahindra Defense chairman SP Shukla said, "Mahindra group has been supporting Make in India initiative whole heartedly. We always identify high quality products and enter into partnerships that we believe will bring maximum value to our defense forces. We believe that Indian armed forces should get the state of the art products while we develop skill and competency for defense manufacturing indigenously. Specifically, we have entered into this partnership to address a range of possibilities from offsets to manufacturing in India which includes transfer of technology and life time support of the product."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 12, 2018
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