Unmanned chopper made

2004-08-08 20:36

Jerusalem - A new unmanned Israeli surveillance helicopter is ready for sale after a strange setback - theft of its prototype, company officials said on Sunday.

The small Israel-based company Steadicopter Ltd developed the helicopter, which flies without a pilot or remote control.

There are no initial plans to sell the helicopter to the general public. It will be marketed for military and paramilitary missions, the officials said.

Development took five years. The 1.5m, 14kg aircraft works with a new navigation technology in which the flight plan is preset before take off.

"There is no operator for the helicopter," business development manager Amir Rochman said. "This means that anybody can use it.

"You just set the waypoints on the computer and press a button - and the helicopter takes off."

The aircraft can be outfitted with different types of cameras that can survey areas up to 13km away. The price is about $125m for the helicopter, camera and launch platform.

Rochman said that while the aircraft has security applications, it also has civil potential like high-voltage cable inspection and news media photography.

The project had a setback when the first prototype was stolen last November. The identity and motivation of the thieves is yet unknown, but Rochman suspects it was the work of commercial rivals.

Israel is a world leader in development of pilotless reconnaissance aircraft.

- AP