Israel to phase out human controlled take off and landings for UAS

An Israeli Air Force requirement to use external pilots during its UAV’s operations will become redundant within the next three years since the use of automatic take-off and landing (ATOL) systems has been widely increased.

Currently the air force uses an external pilot during the take-off and landing of its medium and heavy UAVs. Once they are flying the control of the air vehicle is transferred to a ground station. Some of the drones operated by the Israeli Air Force already use ATOL systems, while the others are expected to be equipped with it by 2015.

These aircraft will be fitted with “Sense and avoid” equipment such as a traffic collision avoidance system which will allow the UAVs to fly in civilian airspace.