IAI offers its naval combat systems to the Chilean Navy

The IAI firm is once again present at Exponaval, the fair that brings together the international shipbuilding industry in Valparaíso, Chile, from November 29 to December 2.

There, the company exhibits its entire portfolio of products, which it ensures are adapted to the needs of the Chilean Navy, Coast Guard and Maritime Authorities. In the new edition of the naval event, the Israeli firm seeks to strengthen cooperation ties with the Chilean defense industry, particularly with Enaer, Famae and Asmar.

Among the products presented by IAI, its naval combat technologies stand out, which combine both offensive and defensive systems. A clear example of this is the Barak MX air defense missile.

This system was designed and put into operation to protect naval combat ships from the size of a corvette and OPV to aircraft carriers. This armament uses three types of interceptors, short, medium and long range, which protect a single vessel or an entire task force from attacks by aircraft, drones, cruisers and anti-ship missiles from a range close to 80 nm.

The company offers its combat systems for new platforms or as part of the modernization of warships. The systems can also be integrated with command and control and other elements such as complete naval combat systems.

Such systems were developed and implemented by IAI on modern warships. They may also include the integrated Naval EW suite incorporating communications, radar and EW/ECM sensors and jammers.

Such systems operate with artificial intelligence analytics to provide a unified situational awareness picture (SAP) for the ship and electronic warfare and countermeasures capabilities.

The Blue Spear and Sea Serpent systems also stand out. The first is the fifth generation of the Gabriel family of anti-surface missiles (ASM) and combines highly penetrating agile anti-ship and ground attack capability with a range of over 160nm.

It deploys an innovative RF seeker head and a sophisticated weapon control and data analysis system to provide precise target detection, discrimination and classification.

For its part, Sea Serpent can transmit updates midway, allowing its operators to re-tune the missile in flight. With these capabilities, Sea Serpent attacks its target even in the presence of other nearby vessels, interference, decoys, and electronic countermeasures.

LOITERING AMMUNITION AND UAS

The Green Dragon or Mini Harpy represents another facet of offensive naval firepower offered by IAI. As a loitering weapon, Mini Harpy can attack targets within a 50nm range. It can loiter over the target area for up to two hours, searching for targets and immediately attacking on the operator’s command.

Equipped with an eight kilogram warhead, anti-radiation and EO seekers, and a data link that communicates the seeker’s image to the operator, the Mini Harpy can be used against enemy targets on land or at sea with maximum precision.

Mini Harpy represents a new category of naval weapons. It is more affordable than the typical ASM, highly autonomous and accurate, yet fully controllable with a “human in the loop” allowing the operator to stop the attack even in the last few seconds before impact.

This versatility allows the naval force to respond flexibly in complex situations, allowing operators to escalate the use of force when the situation calls for it, with minimal risk to the transport platform.

As an aerospace company, IAI’s aviation systems have also been implemented in the naval arena, primarily in unmanned systems. The Maritime Heron UAS is the world’s most advanced and widely used maritime surveillance platform, employed in homeland security and maritime surveillance, security, search and rescue missions.

The navies of Israel, India and Greece and security organizations such as the European agency Frontex use it extensively. The integration of sensors and systems exclusively developed by IAI for this application, including the most advanced maritime surveillance radar developed by Elta, the Maritime Heron, provides a unique and highly effective solution for maritime security missions.

CYBER DEFENSE AND RADARS

Another important capability that IAI offers to the navies and navies of the region is the cyber defense of electronic systems on board ships.

The company’s cyber business unit has developed unique solutions for cyber defense, protection, monitoring, prediction, identification and General cybersecurity for mission critical systems, aviation, maritime and intelligent mobility.

The development and implementation of such systems are supported by IAI’s Ground Integration Laboratory and backed by the extensive experience its staff have gained integrating systems on numerous vessels around the world.

Another facet of IAI activity in the naval theater is radars developed and optimized for warships and maritime surveillance that support operations at sea, on land and in the air.

The Elta MF-Star is the latest and most advanced multi-mission naval radar sensor offering high quality situational imaging and weapons support under severe environmental and target conditions in the current and future naval arena.

Incorporating state-of-the-art technology and a robust system architecture, the MF-STAR employs multibeam and pulsed Doppler techniques as well as advanced ECCM techniques to extract low RCS targets from complex interference and clutter environments, representing a new generation of AESA digital multifunction radars for warships with versions optimized for corvette size up to frigates and destroyers.

Other Elta radars are optimized for coastal surveillance, perimeter or border protection, and over-the-horizon radars covering large marine areas from coastal transmission sites, providing an important sensor that can cover large EEZs.

MARITIME SURVEILLANCE

IAI is promoting its helicopter upgrade packages at Exponaval 2022 to provide an optimal solution for naval mission requirements.

These packages integrate advanced mission systems, sensors, and avionics, including radar, electro-optical payload, electronic support measures (ESM), communications intelligence (Comint), secure communications, data link, and sonar.

All systems are integrated and managed as a complete mission system, complete with weapons of the customer’s choice. Such a comprehensive package offers a cost-effective solution for navies, as they can be integrated into new or used helicopters and include customer-supplied equipment where required.

With information from Infodefensa