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Israeli Drone Makers Fight Off Export Rivals
(Financial Times-UK) John Reed - Elbit Systems' Hermes 450 is the Israeli defense group's top-of-the-line unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone. With its 300 km. range and ability to stay aloft for 17 hours, the Hermes 450 forms the backbone of Israel's military fleet. Brazil's air force used it last year to monitor and secure the pan-American football cup. Danny Israeli, Elbit vice-president for business development, speaks of proliferating uses for drones in new areas such as policing borders or monitoring agriculture, forest fires or mass events. At Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel's other big producer of UAVs, Joseph Weiss, IAI's chief executive, says, "about 50 countries globally are using our UAVs" including "about five countries" who operate its UAVs in Afghanistan. Israel in 2013 became the world's largest exporter of UAVs - a distant second, as measured by production, to the U.S., with its huge domestic military's demand, but the premier supplier of drones sold overseas. Despite growing competition from overseas, analysts think Israel's niche UAVs are safe for now because of their record, proven in hundreds of thousands of hours of flights. "When you have armies that are conservative, and fiscal austerity, will you invest in something that is not proven - or will you buy an Israeli system that has proven itself with the IDF and overseas?" says Huw Williams, unmanned systems editor with IHS Jane's.