German defense giant Rheinmetall has unveiled a containerized launcher for the Hero loitering munitions system developed by Israeli company UVision Air, based in Tzur Yigal. "The War Zone" website reports that Rheinmetall's modified shipping container has 126 launch cells for UVision's loitering munitions.
"The War Zone" says that the 126 launch cells are divided into three distinct 42-cell arrays, pointing to a modular scalable system that could be adapted to 10, 20, and 40-foot-long containers.
Rheinmetall's innovative launch platform enhances the field for three main reasons. Firstly, it intensifies options for swarm attacks, in which a large amount of loitering munitions are launched to hit the target, causing serious difficulty for air defense systems. The only technology that appears to be financially viable for shooting down UAVs on a large scale, but is still relatively in its early stages, is microwaves. These non-kinetic electromagnetic attack means use microwaves to disable electronic components critical to the enemy's attack weapons, including swarms of drones, which could be brought down together in one intercept cluster.
Two other essential advantages of launching from a container that are interelated are the multiplicity of platforms and the ability to camouflage. From a container it is possible to launch from both land and sea platforms platform and from a sea platform. As containers make up 80% of global maritime trade, it would be very difficult to locate the launcher.
Strategic agreement between UVision and Rheinmetall
"The War Zone" recalls that Rheinmetall and UVision signed a strategic cooperation agreement in 2021 in which some of the loitering munitions would be produced by Rheinmetall's Italian subsidiary RWM Italy.
UVision has been flourishing recently in terms of overseas deals despite the need to supply the Israeli army during the war and attempts to delegitimize Israel abroad. Earlier this month it was reported that UVision signed a $73.5 million deal with US company Mistral to supply loitering munitions to the US Special Operations Command (US SOCOM).
UVision will not manufacture the loitering munitions for US SOCOM in Israel, but at a factory that it opened in South Carolina in March in conjunction with US company SAIC. This makes the supply chain much easier, and enables deals to be recorded as US transactions under UVision USA.
The contract, which will be spread up until 2029, covers the Hero-120SF loitering munition system, spare parts, engineering change proposals, and training. The choice of this loitering munition could be an indication of US military targets and the perception of threats in Washington, since it is designed to hit tanks and other armored vehicles at medium range.
Not a great deal of information is available about the 120SF, but is it based on UVision’s Hero 120, and carries a 4.5 kilogram warhead. It has a range of 60 kilometers, and can stay airborne for up to 60 minutes. According to the company, the Hero 120 can operate independently, that is, it can identify a target and attack it by itself.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 18, 2024.
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