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bobdina
07-20-2010, 12:04 PM
New Hovercraft Intelligence Collection Device
15 June 2010 , 16:54
ETOP
The ETOP aids in the guarding of borders and offers quick response during confrontations with adversary forces.
geresh
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The ETOP can be quickly deployed to monitor suspicious events along the border and is part of a new line of airborne devices that the IAI is developing

Jonatan Urich

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is currently presenting the ETOP (Electric Tethered Observation Platform) – a hovercraft platform that collects intelligence information and can support specific operational activities requiring a quick and stable response in any environment and any weather – at the Eurosatory defense industry trade show in Paris.

The ETOP aids in the guarding of borders and offers quick response during confrontations with adversary forces; it is part of a string of modern advances based on a unique development concept of hovercraft tools by the IAI. It receives its electricity from a power station on the ground, and thus its activity is especially easy and quiet during flight.

Additionally, the device does not need a trained operator and can be sent to a place and recalled from it with the press of a button. The IAI reports that the new ETOP can be operated from a stable or mobile ground facility, and that it can carry up to 20kg of weight. It can reach an altitude of approximately 100 meters and can stay in the air for an unlimited time, depending on the power source that it is connected to.


http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/Tech/10/06/1501.htm