First Flight of Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicle over Alberta, Canada
Mar 13, 2008
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX: MDA) a provider of essential information solutions, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)'s Malat Division, announced today that that it has achieved a successful ‘First Flight in Canada’ milestone for the company’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Service known as ‘Ardea.’ This is the first time that a Medium Altitude, Long Endurance UAV has flown in Canada for civil applications.
IAI's Heron, with a wing span of 16.6 metres, took off on its first flight on March 12, 2008 at 11:27 a.m. local time at Suffield in southern Alberta. The international UAV market is growing and MDA is positioning Canada as one of the world leaders in bringing the benefits of UAVs to new civil markets.
An international leader in aerospace, remote sensing, and information solutions, MDA is committed to bringing UAV-based surveillance and monitoring services to commercial sectors of the economy. These systems are cost-effective, safe, and highly versatile alternatives to traditional aerial image acquisition and monitoring techniques. MDA’s heritage in advanced information systems enhances the value of acquired data to generate meaningful information to commercial users.
MDA’s Ardea UAV Service is located in Suffield, Alberta and provides a state-of-the-art R&D and training facility for the application and advancement of UAVs. UAVs are ideal for acquiring imagery and other surveillance information over dangerous environments such as forest fires, where long-endurance missions can keep an eye in the sky without risking human flight crews. Flying regular monitoring missions along oil and gas pipelines eliminates repetitive, costly tasks, while creating a valuable data archive that can be analyzed by computer to detect minute changes. Insurance carriers can use similar monitoring solutions and analysis tools to mitigate underwriting risk, and investigate claims.
MDA selected the IAI Heron Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) aircraft for its operational maturity, long endurance, flexible payload configurations, and its ability to emulate the capabilities of a wide range of UAVs. Based on a strong heritage of 50 years of military and civilian aircraft design and manufacturing, IAI now has over 30 years of experience with unmanned systems and its UAVs have accumulated over 400,000 operational hours. Operational with several Air Forces, the Heron fleets now join the list of 34 international customers that have chosen IAI Malat’s unmanned systems.
David Hargreaves, vice president of MDA’s Integrated Information Solutions business area said, ‘We are very proud and excited to see the first Ardea Heron UAV flight in Canada. We have been working this service initiative for some time, and today’s flight is the first public step of MDA’s long-term effort to bring state-of-the-art UAV technology to Canada. We are looking forward to working with commercial partners at our Suffield, Alberta location to further explore the wide array of civil applications that we see for UAVs.’
About MDA
MDA provides advanced information solutions that capture and process vast amounts of data, produce essential information, and improve the decision making and operational performance of business and government organizations worldwide.
Focused on markets and customers with strong repeat business potential, MDA delivers a broad spectrum of information solutions, ranging from complex operational systems, to tailored information services, to electronic information products.
MDA employs more than 3,000 people in locations across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The Company’s common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TSX:MDA.
About IAI
IAI is a major aerospace company and Israel’s largest industrial corporation, with more than 16,000 employees. As Architects of integrated UAV system solutions, Malat is the leader of IAI’s UAV endeavor and is one of the world’s most experienced unmanned air vehicle system manufacturers, with 34 customers worldwide and systems that have accumulated more than 400,000 operational flight hours.
Malat Division, through extensive international teaming, manages comprehensive system development, integration and manufacturing of UAV systems that fulfill the interoperability, commonality, and connectivity requirements that users anticipate.
For further information, please contact:
Doron Suslik
Deputy Corporate Vice President for Communications
Tel: 972 (3) 935-8509
Fax: 972 (3) 935-8512
Email: hpaz@iai.co.il
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