Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI) and Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) are collaborating on development of an unmanned patrol vehicle for the IDF Land Forces Command. The two companies agreed to cancel their separate projects in this field, and work on a unified solution based on the IAI Guardium unmanned security vehicle (USV).
The Guardium is an autonomous unmanned patrol vehicle designed to secure borders and sensitive sites. The vehicle patrols and survey the area using vision sensors, sends reports to a command and control center, and can be used as an aid to spot infiltrators. The USV can be equipped with cameras, a loudspeaker, and a variety of operational equipment.
Following the agreement, Elbit System has dismantled its own USV program, even though it has passed trials conducted by the Ministry of Defense Directorate Defense R&D.
The collaboration of Israel’s two defense giants in developing a USV for the IDF has raised a storm in the defense establishment. Defense sources expressed concern yesterday that the IAI-Elbit Systems agreement was the first sign that all autonomous systems for ground forces, which have a potential market of hundreds of millions of dollars, will be a monopoly of a single supplier. The Ministry of Defense supports the collaboration agreement, which has been sent to Antitrust Authority director general Ronit Kan for approval.
Kan told “Globes” last week that she opposed collaboration between defense contractors. She believes that the Ministry of Defense should prevent such collaborative ventures because competition between contractors enabled the IDF to obtain better quality technologies at a lower price.
The USV is considered revolutionary for the ground forces, since most operational patrols are carried out by the infantry. A USV can greatly reduce soldiers’ exposure to physical risks. IAI claims that the Guardium can discover breaches in security fences, isolate infiltrators, and stop and monitor them until a military unit arrives on the scene.
IAI and Elbit Systems are also designing the Guardium for civilian missions. It cannot be ruled out that, in the future, it will be the main security vehicle for airports, railway tracks, seaports, nuclear reactors, and power stations.
The initial order for the USV will reportedly be for 10-20 vehicles. The IAI calculates the cost of the Guardium at $900,000, including all systems. A security source said, “The first order will be a foot in the door.”
In recent months, IAI has been marketing the Guardium internationally, in order to reach MOUs and cooperation agreements. A joint venture in supplying the vehicle to the IDF will make IAI and Elbit Systems partners in a key niche in the array of forces in the world’s armies. Projections in the US predict that, by 2020, at least a third of the US Army’s order of battle will be based on based on autonomous vehicles. Their market potential therefore amounts to billions of dollars.
Ministry of Defense spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi said in response, “We did not define cooperation between the companies as a binding condition, but we welcome it. In this way, we can maximize the companies’ technological capabilities while saving costs - a critical issue in these days of cuts in the defense budget.”
Sources inform ''Globes'' that IAI CEO Itzhak Nissan and Elbit Systems president and CEO Joseph Ackerman have held a number of conversations in recent months in an effort to clear up past tensions, and to examine area for cooperation in Israel and internationally.
Elbit Systems said, “The two companies have asked the Antitrust Authority to approve our cooperation on the USV in order to offer the customer - the defense establishment - a single solution that combines the existing capabilities of Israeli industry. The customer welcomed our request.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 3, 2006
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