WarSclerotic

Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems on Thursday ‎unveiled a 1.6-ton drone designed to fly in civilian ‎airspace and assist in homeland security missions. ‎

The move came hours after U.S. rival General ‎Atomics’ MQ-9B SkyGuardian – a version of ‎the widely ‎used Predator family of drones – completed its ‎Atlantic ‎crossing on Wednesday ahead ‎of the Farnborough Airshow, the world’s ‎largest ‎military airshow, set to take place in Britain next week. ‎

Changing security concerns following the dismantling ‎of Islamic State and rising geopolitical tensions ‎have caused European and other countries to shift defense ‎efforts from far-away conflicts to homeland ‎security, resulting in demand for drones that can be ‎safely integrated into civilian airspace to, for ‎example, monitor border crossings, Elbit officials ‎said.‎

A version of Elbit’s Hermes 900 StarLiner is being ‎assembled for the Swiss armed forces and is ‎scheduled to be delivered in 2019 in a deal worth ‎‎$200 million.‎

The StarLiner, launched ahead of the ‎Farnborough Airshow, is derived from the Hermes 900 ‎drone, which was operated by Brazil for surveillance during the 2014 ‎World Cup. That operation required closing off ‎airspace to civilian aircraft, something the ‎StarLiner, with technology to detect aircraft and ‎avoid collisions, will not require, Elbit said.‎

The drone is compliant with NATO criteria, ‎qualifying it to be integrated into civilian ‎airspace, Elbit said, but it will still need the approval of ‎various civil aviation authorities.‎

The StarLiner has been flying in civilian airspace ‎in Israel over the past year. It can reach 30,000 ‎feet – the altitude ‎of some commercial jets – and ‎photograph an 80 ‎square-kilometer (31 square-mile) ‎area. The drone can be equipped with radar, cameras to ‎‎‎take video and still pictures, and signals ‎‎‎intelligence to analyze electronic signals.‎

‎”Some customers would like to use the system to ‎‎gather intelligence,” Elbit CEO Bezhalel Machlis ‎‎said. “Another example can be for homeland security ‎‎applications, to fly above an area and make sure it ‎‎is monitored against terrorist activities.”‎

‎Elad Aharonson, general manager of ‎Elbit’s ISTAR ‎division, said the company is “getting a lot of interest from ‎customers for ‎the same configuration from all over ‎the world. This is a major step toward unmanned civilian ‎‎planes.”

He added that the main barrier to ‎‎such aircraft would be psychological rather than ‎‎technical. ‎

Elbit expects to receive approval from the European ‎Aviation Safety Agency for its own product in ‎the coming months.‎

Israel’s drone exports between 2005 and 2012 totaled ‎‎$4.6 billion, according to consultancy Frost & ‎Sullivan. They reached $525 million in 2016, ‎accounting for 7% percent of Israel’s defense ‎exports, Defense Ministry data shows.‎

Drones are a major source of revenue for Elbit and ‎state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. The United ‎States and Israel dominate the industry but face ‎growing competition from cheaper Chinese drones.‎

U.S. military drone makers are vying for a larger ‎share of the global market, which market researcher ‎the Teal Group forecasts will rise from $2.8 billion ‎in 2016 to $9.4 billion in 2025.