For the first time outside Israel, Israel Aircraft Industries'
Elta Systems is demonstrating its Multimission Boeing 737. The
aircraft is capable of performing intelligence, maritime patrol
and airborne early warning missions. As well as a nose-mounted
forward-looking radar, fuselage pylon that can carry a pod-mounted
radar, and an electro-optical payload, the aircraft can be fitted
with various sensors including Elta's EL/M-2060P synthetic aperture
radar (SAR), providing high-resolution radar imagery at ranges
of 100 to150 km.
As displayed at Le Bourget the 737 is fitted with Elta's EL/M-2022A
multi-mode maritime surveillance radar, which can track over 160
targets simultaneously, while scanning for new targets. It is
capable of detecting ship-sized targets at ranges over 200 nmi,
fast patrol boats at 80 nmi, and a rubber dinghies at 25 nmi.
Submarine periscopes or men at sea are also detectable from long-range.
The radar offers many signal processing techniques for target
detection, classification and identification. For example, it
offers advanced Inverse SAR (ISAR) to classify, identify and track
specific ships at very long distances. Ship targets with known
profiles and specifications can also be identified by their length,
while specific images can be acquired, especially in very calm
seas, via the SAR mode.
This system was employed in January 2002, when the 737 was on
emergency loan to the Israeli Navy, to track and seize 50 tons
of weapons stored on a terrorist-controlled ship sailing from
Iran to Port Said. Positive identification of the vessel was performed
by the radar at long range, despite heavy maritime traffic on
the shipping lane connecting the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea.
The special mission aircraft is also fitted with an electro-optical
payload, currently installed on the belly pylon. The pod can be
cued to the radar or signals intelligence (SIGINT) sensors. The
SIGINT system integrates several sensor payloads supporting electronic
support measures (ESM) and electronic intelligence (ELINT). The
aircraft can also be flown in airborne early warning (AEW) configuration,
using the EL/M-2022A's air-to-air operational modes. Radars such
as the PHALCON AEW system can also be installed.
Elta is currently streamlining the subsystems of its entire range
of airborne radars, which will enable future employment of air-to-air,
air-to-ground and maritime search modes by software configuration
only. The 737 is equipped with a large number of operator consoles
with large screen displays designed by Nir-Or which include integral
recording capability. Each position has individual equipment racks
and communications facilities to access all onboard systems in
flight. The aircraft was recently fitted with the IAI/IMI FlightGuard
protection system, and an enhanced vision system (EVS) developed
by Elbit.
