El Heron Eitan, ha sido diseñado como aeronave de vigilancia y puede permanecer en vuelo durante 24 horas, con carga de pago de 1000 kg, aunque su diseño no es para portar armamento, sino equipos y sensores.
El furor sobre su alcance está basado en la hipótesis de si puede alcanzar Irán.
El Eitan es "primo lejano" del norteamericano UAV Global Hawk, de largo alcance y que puede configurarse para misiones de combate, aunque su sistema de propulsión es diferente. Lo mas probable es que sea utilizado como apoyo a tropas terrestres y apoyo en determinadas operaciones aéreas, lo que lo hace útil para otro tipo de misiones, no solo militares. Australia está pensando en adquirir este tipo de tecnología para controlar la inmigración ilegal en sus costas, ya que piensa que es mas barato de operar que los P3 Orion designados para esta tarea.
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Eitan is the latest UAV designed as surveillance planes and can stay in the air for 24 hours. It has a payload of 1000kg, according to some sources, while others say it can take 1000kg of sensors. The meanings are relevant, because there's a big difference between a combat load of that size and cameras.
The furor about its range is based on the ongoing “debate” about whether Israeli planes can reach Iran. The Iranians say they can’t, the Israelis say they can.
Wikipedia has more specifications which are better definitions of Eitan’s actual functions. More importantly, the Wikipedia article’s also related to the commercial prospects of this potentially very useful plane, which appears to be one of the primary drivers of its sudden rise to fame.
This is a medium range plane, and its most likely combat role would be supporting ground forces and assisting some air operations, which it appears to be equipped to do very effectively. It’s not designed as a natural participant in combat. It has no obvious hard points, and a single prop driven plane would require some modifications to lug any weapon with major combat capability long ranges for 24 hours. In missions outside Israel it would need to operate under the wing of the air superiority of the Israeli Air Force. The Australian Defence Force intends to lease 2 Eitans. There’s a good operational concept involved. The Royal Australian Navy and Air Force have been wearing out equipment and budgets on surveillance for a decade or more. Long, expensive missions covering our long, extensive shores, and finding the lucky providers of people smugglers’ incomes in their dangerous, unseaworthy boats needs to be much more cost effective. Eitan is perfectly capable of doing that.
Australia sends Orions all over the Indian Ocean, and surface ships all around then, to home in on the boats. Eitan will save time, money and lives, all in large numbers.
No comments:
Post a Comment