Bengaluru: Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) received export orders worth about US$33 million from Elbit Systems Electro-Optics Elop Ltd (ELOP), a subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd, Israel, during Aero India 2019 that concluded today. The orders involve the manufacture and supply of state-of-the-art next generation EOIR payloads (CoMPASS Rev III, Trade Mark of ELOP) and another variant of EOIR payload (CoMPASS III, Trade Mark of ELOP) for Airborne applications. B Machilis, President & CEO, Elbit Systems Ltd, handed over documents of the export order to Gowtama MV, CMD, BEL in Bengaluru.
As part of Make in India initiative of the government of India, BEL had already entered into a technical collaboration agreement (TCA) with ELOP for the Transfer of Technology for the manufacture of these EOIR payloads and for providing lifetime maintenance support at its manufacturing facility in Chennai.
BEL has already established the necessary infrastructure and is supplying the EOIR payloads manufactured at its facilities to domestic and foreign customers. The state-owned PSU is augmenting these facilities for meeting the upcoming requirements of variants of EOIR payloads for domestic and export markets.
The CoMPASS Rev III is a day-and-night surveillance system that includes a Colour TV daylight camera, 3rd generation medium wave IR (MWIR) sensor, laser target designator and range finder (LTDRF), short wave IR (SWIR), internal GPS and automatic tracking capabilities, as well as command and control capabilities. It is distinguished by a wide variety of interfaces, enabling integration with various aircraft/helicopter systems, such as the mission computer, fire control, radar, GPS, data downlink and helmet-mounted tracking systems. Its small dimensions, low weight, high level of stabilisation and coverage angles make it an optimal choice for long-range, day-and-night surveillance, target tracking, fire control applications and search and rescue.
CoMPASS Rev III is the most advanced version of its Payload family, featuring reduced weight, a high degree of modularity and flexibility, space-saving packaging and advanced operational and video processing features whereas CoMPASS III is an earlier version of EOIR payload.