Nano SPEAR can protect aircraft from threats at miniscule size

Elbit’s Nano SPEAR, which was unveiled at the recent Pari Air Show, is a whole new direction in terms of being able to defend aircraft from threats using countermeasures that are minuscule in size.

This could make a significant difference in the long run in the expense needed to protect aircraft from Israel's enemies and also for foreign clients.

In a rare recent interview, Elbit senior vice president of Airborne EW Business Lines Shlomo Livne told The Jerusalem Post that the Nano SPEAR (Self Protection Electronic Attack and Reconnaissance) was born when, “many customers reached the conclusion that they needed a much smaller platform,” to defend their aircraft from rocket attacks.

He said that Elbit absorbed this feedback and overtime worked on adjusting existing countermeasures against radar-guided air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles to operate through a much smaller platform, while also adding cutting-edge technology.

When referring to small, Livne said that the Nano SPEAR can be as small as one-eighth of an inch and weighs a stunningly light 800 grams as compared to its closest related predecessors which would have weighed 12-20 kilograms.

Livne said that there are things that “customers cannot adjust on their own to their existing aircraft and they do not want the expense of purchasing new aircraft. It’s lower cost and a smaller piece of their budget if we make them something which they can just add on.”

The Nano SPEAR’s appearance is not that different from a tiny metal box with circular edges and airfoils at its rear which seem to fold. The disposable decoy can only be used once per unit but is so tiny that it can be stuffed into a standard countermeasures dispenser or even simply tossed out an aircraft’s window.

Once the Nano SPEAR is activated, the expendable radio frequency decoy engages an advanced digital receiver, a digital RF (radio frequency) memory device, and an EW (electronic warfare) technique generator. Combined, these systems are designed to trick enemy missile systems in order to lure them away from their true target, allowing the aircraft to escape.

In the broader sense, the competition between aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles is a never-ending arms race, with missiles always becoming smarter, more maneuverable, and coming equipped with better sensors, while aircraft step up with increasingly more advanced countermeasures.

Some aircraft have no effective countermeasures and some have countermeasures for either short or long-range threats, but not both, or for a specific kind of missile or radar, but not others.

The Elbit Nano SPEAR is designed to plug an aircraft’s holes in existing conventional ECMs (electronic countermeasures) which are insufficient and to provide first-line ECM protection for aircraft which otherwise would be helpless to defend against targeting radar.

Also, Elbit’s primary focus for this product for now is defending military aircraft from shorter-range missile threats, but the solution could be expanded in the future to commercial aircraft.

What's the cost associated?

Regarding price, Livne said he could not reveal specifics, but that the price could vary depending on the specific threat a customer was trying to counter and other customized requests of the customer.

His main point was that no matter the varying price, it would be much less expensive than purchasing a new aircraft because of the ease of adding it on – “some of the magic we built for our customers.”

Livne said it was important for customers to be able to “focus on the mission and not be distracted by many other issues.”

“We are always trying to bring new items to handle the battlespace for aircraft so they can complete the mission,” said Livne.

Elbit said that the Nano SPEAR™ is part of the Self Protection Electronic Attack and Reconnaissance (SPEAR) product family, “which includes the Micro SPEAR™ for very small installations; Light SPEAR™ for installation on medium-large sized helicopters and UAVs; and the Advanced SPEAR™ ECM Pod currently on contract for providing active self-protection for the C-390 transport aircraft.”

It added that “The SPEAR product family is based on advanced hardware, including Digital Receiver Exciters, that are modular and provide ease of scalability.”   

"We are proud to enable our customers' high-end protection capabilities to increase their platform survivability and aircrew safety," said Oren Sabag, General Manager of Elbit Systems ISTAR & EW. "We will continue to invest significant R&D efforts to supply the most advanced, cutting edge and cost-effective solutions guaranteeing comprehensive protection and mission success."