Israel Aerospace Industries Awarded Contract Worth Tens of Millions of Dollars to Supply Self-Protection System for Military and Civilian Planes

ELTA Systems Ltd., a group and wholly owned subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has been awarded a contract to supply its self-protection systems, Flight Guard, for commercial planes in Israel. Contracts for various customers in Israel and abroad for the self-protection systems are estimated to be valued at tens of millions of dollars, over period of years. This is the only system to be tested and authorized by the Israel Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA).

ELTA has been developing, producing, and supplying aircraft self-protection systems for many years. In 2005, a version of "Flight Guard" was authorized by the ICAA, following two years of in-depth inspections, flight tests, and licensing examinations. With over 200 military, civilian, and VIP aircraft in more than 15 countries worldwide currently flying with the protection of the ELTA system, the operational efficiency of the system has been successfully proven.

The system includes a Missile Approach Warning System, which rapidly scans for potential threats in the area surrounding the aircraft, and raises an alert only when it detects a direct threat to the aircraft.

Upon detection of a direct threat, a jamming system immediately deploys decoy flares to steer any threatening heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft and toward the decoy flares. The system has the lowest false alarm rate, and is easy to install and operational on various kinds of aircraft.

In Israel, the self-protection system was chosen for its particular effectiveness during takeoff and landing, when the aircraft is most vulnerable to threats from the ground. Other self-protection systems, based on different sensors, suffer from false alarms.
The "Flight Guard" system will be delivered within one year to the customer. Additional orders for the system are expected upon completion of the current order.