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IAI SATELLITES – LEADING IN SPACE DEVELOPMENT
SP’s Aviation
|September 2020
SEEKING TO REACH THE HIGHEST FRONTIER, IAI HAS pioneered space deployment in 1988, placing Israel’s first satellite, OFEQ-1, in low earth orbit.
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The OFEQ-5 was launched in 2002 and remains fully operational after 18 years in orbit. It was followed by additional satellites launched by IAI’s Shavit satellite launcher and commercial launchers as well. These were augmented by two TecSAR radar satellites. The most recent satellite that was successfully launched, is the Israel’s top-notched reconnaissance satellite, the OFEK-16, on July 06, 2020 from Israel. In addition, IAI was recently commissioned to develop and build Israel’s national communication satellite, DROR-1. The new satellite will carry an advanced digital communication payload enabling “smartphone in space” capabilities, delivering communication agility throughout the satellite’s lifetime in space.
HIGH-RESOLUTION INTELLIGENCE
IAI’s OptSat line of satellites has evolved through several generations of reconnaissance satellites and is currently positioned at the forefront of high-resolution imaging satellites used by intelligence services.
This story is from the September 2020 edition of SP’s Aviation.
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