Babcock and Israel Aerospace Industries announce collaboration

Babcock Australasia and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pursue remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) solutions for law enforcement, maritime surveillance and disaster management applications in Australia.

After the signing of the MoU, Babcock and IAI plan to undertake a series of in-country demonstrations of two of IAI’s uncrewed aerial systems, the WanderB-VTOL and ThunderB-VTOL this year.

As part of this demonstration, they are engaging with state and federal government law enforcement, emergency services and national security agencies to refine a range of practical operational concepts to prove the capabilities.

IAI's vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), provide important benefits for land and maritime applications as they combine the advantages of a fixed wing UAV – long range, long endurance, high speed, wind independency and large area coverage – with the advantages of a multi-copter. The company has over 250 WanderB-VTOL and ThunderB-VTOL systems in use by customers around the world.

Babcock’s Director of Aviation and Critical Services, Peter Newington, said that the new partnership with IAI will allow Babcock to offer ‘blended operations’ combining crewed rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft with uncrewed RPA.

He said: “This partnership with IAI is about bringing together solutions that are the best fit for our customers, integrating our rotary capabilities with RPAs to deliver the most effective and cost-efficient solutions.”

IAI Australia Managing Director, Yonatan Segev added: “From the Tactical WanderB-VTOL and ThunderB-VTOL systems to the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) Maritime Heron, IAI looks forward to bringing the most advanced technology together with our partners in Babcock to offer unique operational solutions to customers.”