Ondas has been awarded a multi-million-dollar tender by Israel\u2019s Ministry of Defense to develop and produce a new generation of tactical attack drones. The program, known as \u201cDigital Bat,\u201d is intended to provide frontline combat units with a low-cost unmanned strike capability that can be deployed at scale.<\/p>\n
The Defense Ministry has not disclosed the value of the award, the number of drones planned or the system\u2019s technical specifications.<\/p>\n
According to Ondas, the program will cover the complete tactical capability, including the aerial platform, autonomous functions, mission integration, system engineering, production readiness and compatibility with broader command-and-control environments.<\/p>\n
The company said the drones are being developed to address the Defense Ministry\u2019s evolving operational requirements and the growing use of unmanned and autonomous systems at the tactical level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis strategic award represents an important validation of the defense technology platform we are building at Ondas and our growing ability to serve as a prime contractor for complex, next-generation defense programs,\u201d said Eric Brock, Chairman and CEO of Ondas.<\/p>\n
Brock also pointed to a broader shift toward cheaper unmanned systems that can be fielded in larger numbers. \u201cWe are seeing a fundamental shift in defense priorities toward affordable autonomous systems that can be produced and deployed at a significant scale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ondas said the Digital Bat program reflects some of the same priorities behind the U.S. Drone Dominance Program, a $1.1 billion initiative focused on rapidly fielding low-cost unmanned systems, including one-way attack drones. The company described the two programs as separate, while highlighting their shared emphasis on affordability, scale and rapid deployment.<\/p>\n
The tactical drones are intended to give frontline units an aerial capability that can be deployed quickly and adapted to changing operational conditions. According to Ondas, they could complement longer-range one-way attack and precision-strike systems by providing commanders with additional options for different ranges and mission requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cTactical forces increasingly require aerial systems that can be deployed rapidly, integrated directly into operational workflows and adapted as missions and threats evolve,\u201d said Oshri Lugassy, Co-CEO of Ondas Autonomous Systems.<\/p>\n
Lugassy said the company\u2019s work on Digital Bat will extend beyond the aircraft itself, covering \u201cthe platform, autonomy, mission software, system integration, production infrastructure and operational support\u201d required to move the system from development toward field deployment.<\/p>\n
The award expands Ondas\u2019 defense activities across four areas: air defense and counter-UAS, aerial intelligence, aerial attack and unmanned ground systems. The company said its AI-powered command and mission-management software is intended to connect these systems with sensors, operational units and command environments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ondas has been awarded a multi-million-dollar tender by Israel\u2019s Ministry of Defense to develop and produce a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-582115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}