Unmanned aerial vehicle systems will be distributed to every battalion of the IDF as part of the Sky and Earth project of the Ground Forces’ Missile Department.  The UAVs will be supplied in order to carry out operational missions.  The system’s basic design was purchased four years ago and was developed by the civilian company Elbit Systems Ltd. 

“The IDF is already in possession of a number of these systems, and they are already in use as operations call for them,” said Head of Missile Department, Lieutenant General Erez Diner. “We have the operational ability, and we worked with the systems also during the war.  IDF soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps ran the systems during the Second Lebanon War.  But today there is a unit which works with combat soldiers and which is in possession of the system, allowing it to be put to use in every area where routine security measures are taken.”

The new systems, which will be received by the Ground Forces’ Technology Brigade in the upcoming years, is characterized by its various advantages, including the extended  missile rang and an easy command system.  The upgraded system will also have the ability to dispatch a plane while preparing the second plane for take off; when the first plane lands, the second plane will already be in the air.

The Earth and Sky project is administered today by an authorized unit that is responsible for the systems’ telecommunications reception and repairs of the equipment.  “In the future, we will have the ability to open cells of the Sky and Earth project which will be allocated to areas or specific units,” explained Lt. Col. Diner. “That is to say, when a brigade of reserve soldiers returns to service in Samaria, a cell from the project will be allocated to the group. They will work together until they finish their reserve service.  That way we can do more surveillance of the systems and its performance, and learn how we can improve it even more.”