Special to WorldTribune.com
TEL AVIV — Israel and Singapore have developed an advanced unmanned
aerial vehicle system.

Industry sources said Israel Aerospace Industries and Singapore’s
Horizon Energy Systems have enhanced a UAV for reconnaissance missions.

Israel and Singapore have been deemed longtime strategic allies. The
sources said Singapore helped pay for Israeli development of advanced
air and ground systems over the last 30 years.

They said Horizon, in a project supported by both Asian governments, has
developed and installed the Aeropak membrane fuel-cell system on IAI’s
BirdEye-650 miniature UAV.

“The combination of the fuel system and the mini-UAV has been very
effective,” an industry source said.

The sources said Singapore wants Aeropak on any of its foreign
mini-UAVs. They said Aeropak has extended the flight endurance of BirdEye
from three to six hours. The heritage UAV was powered by lithium batteries.

Aeropak was designed to employ hot-swappable cartridges that could
deliver 600 watts of peak power. The cartridges were said to eliminate the
need for battery chargers.

Another Israeli UAV developer, Elbit Systems, has also installed Aeropak
on its platforms. The company used Aeropak on its Skylark-I mini-UAV, which
underwent trials in Singapore.

  BirdEye-650 UAV, Horizon Energy Systems, Israel, Israel Aerospace Industries, Singapore, Singapore collaborate on advanced reconnaisance UAV