Last update - 00:00 26/12/2007
Civilians from military firms to learn to fly drones
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel next week will open its first-ever civilian program to train people to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The course, which is to be given by the company Shirgal Wings in partnership with Freedom Technologies, will take place at the Herzliya airport, where 18 students will learn to take off, cruise and land during the course's two to three months.
Although graduates will receive licenses that are completely civilian and recognized by the Israel Airport Authority (IAA,) most of the students and instructors hail from the defense establishment. Various defense organizations and military companies require training for their personnel for a range of UAV-related applications they are developing.
Most of the program's instructors are former officers in the Israel Air Force's UAV units, according to Chen Grens of Freedom Technologies. Grens says these people have extensive experience.
"The course will progress according to the student's capacity," Grens told Haaretz. "Most of the course is theoretical, where cadets will study the theory of using UAVs in the field." Grens said that as far as the organizers know, the course is the first of its kind in the world.
Grens added that the organizers might open another class next month because of increasing interest from other security-related companies.
In recent years, the Israel Defense Forces and IAF have employed a wide variety of UAVs, which are used mostly for surveillance and observation over enemy territory. The IDF has relied on UAVs in everyday antiterrorist activity in the Gaza Strip and used them during the Second Lebanon War last year.