Israeli engineers and scientists have always been at the forefront of innovative aviation technologies. The difference between an Israeli-developed technology and those of other countries is that Israeli engineers don’t just set out to develop new products; the Israeli solution must be an “elegant” one.

Take Urban Aerodynamics Ltd., for example. The company has developed an aviation vehicle that can fly amid skyscrapers and park inside buildings. It is intended to be a rescue system.

Called the X-Hawk, the vehicle is a “rotorless” Vertical-Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicle. Unlike a helicopter, the X-Hawk’s propellers are not extended, but incorporated into the body of the aircraft, enabling it to pull up close to the windows of tall buildings without danger of collision.

Those unique characteristics make the X-Hawk suitable for rescue and law enforcement work: evacuating injured people from high-rise buildings, high speed pursuit and other daring police activities. The X-Hawk is expected to be able to achieve a maximum speed of 200 KPH and to remain airborne for up to an hour and a half (like small helicopters).

Says Dr. Raffi Yoeli, the founder of the concept and the company: “In a regular helicopter, if you want to move left, you have to first tilt to the left. Then you have to correct the movement by tilting to the right in order to straighten out. We eliminate those movements — a very important point when you’re working in constricted air space like an urban environment.”

The X-Hawk is based on all proven, off-the-shelf certified technology, meaning the engines are already Federal Aviation Agency certified and have been up and running in other helicopters.

The company’s engineers have done is to integrate the existing technology together with a patented vane control system. Rows of vanes on the top and bottom of the panel look and work like Venetian blinds. They can either turn in unison or in a few degrees in one direction or the other.

With its ability to go where no helicopter has gone before, the X-Hawk can dock on the side of a building and thus be used in medical response teams. Until now, it was not possible to use an air ambulance in the middle of a city. Even in a situation in which there is more open space, like on a large highway, aerial responders are usually not the first to arrive. There’s always a ground crew first. They have to make sure the area is clear of wires, debris and other obstacles for landing. With the X-Hawk, the aerial medical response team can be first.

But where the X-Hawk has really dazzled the U.S. rescue professionals who have learned about the vehicle is in its potential to rescue people from buildings.

There is also great potential with the new helicopter to save people from buildings, for instance to rescue people from the top floors of the building.

Urban Aerodynamics has produced one concept demonstrator of the new aircraft — called the City Hawk. It has completed 10 hover tests, at a height of two to three meters, with a pilot, and has registered a U.S. patent for the control system.

Another “elegant” Israeli product in the aviation market comes from Steadicopter Ltd. It has developed an unmanned helicopter. The helicopter performs fully autonomously, including all the aspects of the flight: takeoff, hovering, waypoints flight and landing while transmitting video images in real time.

The Steadicopter craft weighs just 17 pounds, is 59 inches long and can be controlled by a laptop up to a range of about three miles. The chopper can stay in the air for 90 minutes, navigate using pre-defined GPS coordinates, and relay information back using day and night (thermal) cameras. Flight details and routes are fed from a standard PC at the ground station before the flight, with the possibility of interfering, changing mission, orders and commands (directions, flight speed and altitudes) throughout the course of the flight.

The first product of Steadicopter is designed to fly at a few hundred feet, with an operation range of 10 kilometers, and can adjust to winds of up to 25 knots. Changes in direction, flight speed and altitude can be made throughout the flight. The helicopter can be outfitted with cameras that survey areas up to 8.8 miles away and transmit real time video images.

The craft uses GPS, gyroscopes and various other off-the-shelf instrumentation to guide and control the helicopter. It can come in a variety of configurations that can fit military and security applications such as: mine detection, stealth scouting, border patrol and police surveillance, as well as civilian applications such as high voltage line inspection, media coverage and agriculture purposes.

Joel Bainerman helps Diaspora Jews identify investment opportunities in Israel’s high tech sector. He can be contacted at: [email protected] +972 4639 6673