Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Oct. 21 said it delivered through MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) the first leased Heron unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to the Canadian air force for operations in Afghanistan.
IAI and MDA won the contract in August for the UAS leasing scheme devised under the Canadian Department of National Defense’s Project Noctua, which mandated multiple leased UAS maintained by contractors for use in Afghanistan.
The contract is believed to be worth about $80 million.
The UAS lease runs through 2010, with an option to extend for an additional year, IAI said.
IAI’s Malat division builds the Heron family of unmanned air vehicles–in this case the Heron I, also known as “Mahatz” or “Shoval” in Israel. Management, training, and in- theater maintenance for the Canadian operators is the responsibility of MDA, the Canadian prime contractor.
According to IAI, the Canadian air force and army have seen several demonstrations of the company’s various UAS solutions tailored to meet Canada’s operational demands.
Shortly before the delivery, Malat hosted the Canadian Defense Attaché in Israel, Col. Geordie Elms, for a tour of the facilities, IAI said. “During his visit at Malat, Col. Elms was shown the most updated line of products Malat Division has to offer, including the Heron UAV.”
This is not the first time MDA and IAI have cooperated on a UAV project. Under Project Ardea, Heron was tested for use in civilian missions, and was successfully demonstrated in Alberta, Canada, IAI said. The successful cooperation with MDA on Ardea led to the joint price proposal to the Canadian air force for Noctua, IAI added.