ISRAEL 
HIGH-TECH & INVESTMENT REPORT

from the October 2007 issue


S.G.D Engineering Ltd.

The nearly three decade old company produces a suite of producta that include Airborne pods - Recce, SAR, Chaff and Flares and EW Long Range Oblique Photography (LOROP) Reconnaissance Pod (Recce Pod) design and manufacture for F-16 and F-4. The pods are fully equipped ready for the integration of specific sensor suites. Israel's Elisra is a major supplier of reconnaissance cameras and other electronic hardware. It also manufactures chaff and flares dispensing pods for fighter aircraft. Some of its projects include F-16 carried reconnaissance pods, already delivered to four air forces.

A recent contract was the CASA CN-235 Conversion to "Open Sky Treaty" special mission (observation) aircraft for the Turkish Air Force. S.G.D. cooperates with Israel Aircraft Industries in its upgrading programs.

Open Skies (OS) is an international treaty between NATO and former Warsaw Pact Nations which allows all to overfly one another, within certain limitations.

The Treaty on Open Skies entered into force on January 1, 2002, and currently has 30 states as parties. The Treaty establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the entire territory of its participants. The Treaty is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants, regardless of size, a direct role in gathering information about military forces and activities of concern to them. Open Skies is one of the most wide-ranging international efforts to date to promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities.The Treaty specifies that the entire territory of a State Party is open to observation. Observation flights may only be restricted for reasons of flight safety; not for reasons of national security. Imagery collected from Open Skies missions is available to any State Party upon request for the cost of reproduction.

Open Skies aircraft may have video, optical, panoramic and framing cameras for daylight photography, infra-red line scanners for a day/night capability, and synthetic aperture radar for a day/night, all weather capability. Photographic image quality will permit recognition of major military equipment (e.g., permit a State Party to distinguish between a tank and a truck), thus allowing significant transparency of military forces and activities. Sensor categories may be added and capabilities improved by agreement among States Parties.

S.G.D., under direct prime contract with the Turkish Air Force (TuAF), converted a CN-235 for the OS mission. This specific conversion is possibly the most advanced aircraft for the mission as it features 8 camera sensors aboard, all meeting (and certified) the Treaty's requirements, except for the IRLS which is yet to be defined by the Treaty. The member states will be meeting in Turkey in early July to further define the IRLS specification, based on the IRLS that is currently carried on board the TuAF's aircraft.



Reprinted from the Israel High-Tech & Investment Report October 2007

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