Saturday, November 30, 2019

Technology - ‘Sci-fi’ electrode sleeve offers new hope for millions of paralysis patients

‘Sci-fi’ electrode sleeve offers new hope for millions of paralysis patients


by Emily DeCiccio, Fox News, November 29,  2019

An over-the-skin bioelectronic sleeve used to help individuals with paralysis move their fingers.Northwell Health
Cutting-edge technology is giving new hope to millions of people living with paralysis across the United States. Researchers at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research have successfully developed a light-weight, wearable electrode sleeve that regulates and triggers finger movement in quadriplegics.
The lead researcher, Chad Bouton, said his team developed the sleeve after they determined there was brain activity in motor areas years after severe injuries. The team realized that there was a way to stimulate the arm and isolate individual finger movements.
“This has been a very difficult problem in the world of rehabilitating folks living with paralysis after a stroke or a spinal cord injury,” Bouton told Fox News. “The hand is one of the most challenging areas of the body to rehabilitate because of that fine movement and all of the types of intricate motions the fingers in hand can do.”
The unique way in which Bouton’s team learned to stimulate muscles led to the development of a wearable sleeve that patients could use every day. The sleeve allows for refined motor movement, and all of the actions are completed by the participants’ own volition. That means the sleeve picks up the muscle’s attempt to motion and then stimulates, over the skin, to help with the movement and complete the task.
Casey Ellin, 32, became one of the first patients to test out the sleeve.
“I went into the study with no expectations,” Ellin said. “At first when I tried it, I felt like I was in some sort of sci-fi movie getting an upgrade, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I went in thinking that what we are doing at the study could benefit so many people in the future.”
Ellin suffered a cervical spinal cord injury in June 2013 while diving in the ocean at Jones Beach. Doctors diagnosed him with having a C5 spinal cord injury, which meant he had substantial motor and sensory limitations.
Bouton told Fox News that Ellin has been able to make great strides with the sleeve.
“Casey’s been able to wear the sleeve and use it to pick up things, like a granola bar, and then feed himself, and these types of accomplishments are very, very important,” he said.
Ellin said he believes that this type of invention has the potential to open many doors for the disabled community.
“Being able to have the use of one’s hands, even in a limited capacity would be a game-changer,” Ellin said. “Studies like this give me a lot of hope for the future, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Bouton echoed Ellin’s optimism for the future of paralysis patients.
“If you have a wearable form of this type of stimulation, these types of electrodes, you can wear it not only on the upper limb, but also the lower limb,” Bouton said. “And we are working with folks to explore that, and we hope in the future to potentially even help people regain leg movement and maybe one day even walking.”
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SPACE - S0 - 20191130 - Geomagnetic Quakes, Field Reversals, Galactic Trigger

SPACE - S0 - 20191130 - Geomagnetic Quakes, Field Reversals, Galactic Trigger

Good Morning, Observers!

  

  
Solar winds were mostly calm yesterday, but there was a bit of a rise a few hours ago above 400 KPS, mellowing back down to 370 KPS, then bumping back up to 400. Go figure. KP Index remained calm with KP-1s and KP-2s with a KP-3 thrown in for good measure. The magnetometer readings around the time of the speed increase and the KP-3 had a glitch in its downward slope. Nothing dangerous, just an odd observation. The Southern coronal hole is just passing the central longitudes now, but it's a small hole, so it's unlikely to have a major impact. The bright spot is continuing to turn toward Earth, but it's also continuing to lack any underlying sunspots or magnetic complexity. Guatemala had a Mag 5.6 a few hours ago, also a Mag 5.3 in Japan, otherwise the lithosphere was pretty tame.
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Solution to Climate Emergency? Bacteria that eat CO₂


In possible climate breakthrough, Israel scientists engineer bacteria to eat CO₂

By Pamela Geller - on 
ISRAEL

9

IN POSSIBLE CLIMATE BREAKTHROUGH, ISRAEL SCIENTISTS ENGINEER BACTERIA TO EAT CO₂

DECADE-LONG RESEARCH AT WEIZMANN INSTITUTE COULD PAVE WAY FOR LOW-EMISSIONS PRODUCTION OF CARBON FOR USE IN BIOFUELS, FOOD, AND HELP REMOVE EXCESS GLOBAL WARMING CO₂ FROM AIR

By Sue Surkes, TOI, 28 November 2019:
In a remarkable breakthrough that could pave the way toward carbon-neutral fuels, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have produced a genetically engineered bacteria that can live on carbon dioxide rather than sugar.
The extraordinary leap — reported Wednesday in Cell, and quickly picked up by prestigious publications such as Nature — could lead to the low-emissions production of carbon for use in biofuels or food that would also help to remove excess CO₂ from the atmosphere, where it is helping to drive global warming.
Plants and ocean-living cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis, taking the energy from light to transform CO₂ into a form of organic carbon that can be used to build DNA, proteins and fats.
As these photosynthesizers can be difficult to moderate genetically, the Weizmann team, under Prof. Ron Milo, took E. coli bacteria — more commonly associated with food poisoning — and spent ten years weaning them off sugar and training them to “eat” carbon dioxide instead.
Through genetic engineering, they enabled the bacteria to convert CO₂ into organic carbon, substituting the energy of the sun — a vital ingredient in the photosynthesis process — with a substance called formate, which is also attracting attention as a potential generator of clean electricity.
To get the bacteria to move from a sugar to a carbon dioxide diet, the team, which also included Roee Ben-Nissan, Yinon Bar-On and others in the institute’s Plant and Environmental Sciences Department, then almost starved the bacteria of sugar (glucose), while giving them plenty of carbon dioxide and formate, and bred several generations to test whether evolution would allow some of the bacteria to mutate and be able to survive solely on CO₂.
After a year, some of the bacteria descendants made the complete switch to CO₂, following evolutionary changes in just 11 genes.
The lab bacteria that moved over to a CO₂ diet were fed very high amounts of the gas. However, under regular atmospheric conditions, they would still need sugar, as well, to live.
“Our lab was the first to pursue the idea of changing the diet of a normal heterotroph [one that eats organic substances] to convert it to autotrophism [‘living on air’],” said Milo. “It sounded impossible at first, but it has taught us numerous lessons along the way, and in the end we showed it indeed can be done. Our findings are a significant milestone toward our goal of efficient, green scientific applications.”
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Friday, November 29, 2019

Toward more efficient computing, with magnetic waves

NOVEMBER 28, 2019, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology



MIT researchers have devised a novel circuit design that enables precise control of computing with magnetic waves—with no electricity needed. The advance takes a step toward practical magnetic-based devices, which have the potential to compute far more efficiently than electronics.

Classical computers rely on massive amounts of electricity for computing and data storage, and generate a lot of wasted heat. In search of more efficient alternatives, researchers have started designing magnetic-based "spintronic" devices, which use relatively little electricity and generate practically no heat.

Spintronic devices leverage the "spin wave"—a quantum property of electrons—in magnetic materials with a lattice structure. This approach involves modulating the spin wave properties to produce some measurable output that can be correlated to computation. Until now, modulating spin waves has required injected electrical currents using bulky components that can cause signal noise and effectively negate any inherent performance gains.

The MIT researchers developed a circuit architecture that uses only a nanometer-wide domain wall in layered nanofilms of magnetic material to modulate a passing spin wave, without any extra components or electrical current. In turn, the spin wave can be tuned to control the location of the wall, as needed. This provides precise control of two changing spin wave states, which correspond to the 1s and 0s used in classical computing.

In the future, pairs of spin waves could be fed into the circuit through dual channels, modulated for different properties, and combined to generate some measurable quantum interference—similar to how photon wave interference is used for quantum computing. Researchers hypothesize that such interference-based spintronic devices, like quantum computers, could execute highly complex tasks that conventional computers struggle with.

"People are beginning to look for computing beyond silicon. Wave computing is a promising alternative," says Luqiao Liu, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and principal investigator of the Spintronic Material and Device Group in the Research Laboratory of Electronics. "By using this narrow domain wall, we can modulate the spin wave and create these two separate states, without any real energy costs. We just rely on spin waves and intrinsic magnetic material."

Joining Liu on the journal Science paper are Jiahao Han, Pengxiang Zhang, and Justin T. Hou, three graduate students in the Spintronic Material and Device Group; and EECS postdoc Saima A. Siddiqui.

Flipping magnons

Spin waves are ripples of energy with small wavelengths. Chunks of the spin wave, which are essentially the collective spin of many electrons, are called magnons. While magnons are not true particles, like individual electrons, they can be measured similarly for computing applications.

In their work, the researchers utilized a customized "magnetic domain wall," a nanometer-sized barrier between two neighboring magnetic structures. They layered a pattern of cobalt/nickel nanofilms—each a few atoms thick—with certain desirable magnetic properties that can handle a high volume of spin waves. Then they placed the wall in the middle of a magnetic material with a special lattice structure, and incorporated the system into a circuit.

On one side of the circuit, the researchers excited constant spin waves in the material. As the wave passes through the wall, its magnons immediately spin in the opposite direction: Magnons in the first region spin north, while those in the second region—past the wall—spin south. This causes the dramatic shift in the wave's phase (angle) and slight decrease in magnitude (power).

In experiments, the researchers placed a separate antenna on the opposite side of the circuit, that detects and transmits an output signal. Results indicated that, at its output state, the phase of the input wave flipped 180 degrees. The wave's magnitude—measured from highest to lowest peak—had also decreased by a significant amount.

Adding some torque

Then, the researchers discovered a mutual interaction between spin wave and domain wall that enabled them to efficiently toggle between two states. Without the domain wall, the circuit would be uniformly magnetized; with the domain wall, the circuit has a split, modulated wave.

By controlling the spin wave, they found they could control the position of the domain wall. This relies on a phenomenon called, "spin-transfer torque," which is when spinning electrons essentially jolt a magnetic material to flip its magnetic orientation.

In the researchers' work, they boosted the power of injected spin waves to induce a certain spin of the magnons. This actually draws the wall toward the boosted wave source. In doing so, the wall gets jammed under the antenna—effectively making it unable to modulate waves and ensuring uniform magnetization in this state.

Using a special magnetic microscope, they showed that this method causes a micrometer-size shift in the wall, which is enough to position it anywhere along the material block. Notably, the mechanism of magnon spin-transfer torque was proposed, but not demonstrated, a few years ago. "There was good reason to think this would happen," Liu says. "But our experiments prove what will actually occur under these conditions."

The whole circuit is like a water pipe, Liu says. The valve (domain wall) controls how the water (spin wave) flows through the pipe (material). "But you can also imagine making water pressure so high, it breaks the valve off and pushes it downstream," Liu says. "If we apply a strong enough spin wave, we can move the position of domain wall—except it moves slightly upstream, not downstream."

Such innovations could enable practical wave-based computing for specific tasks, such as the signal-processing technique, called "fast Fourier transform." Next, the researchers hope to build a working wave circuit that can execute basic computations. Among other things, they have to optimize materials, reduce potential signal noise, and further study how fast they can switch between states by moving around the domain wall. "That's next on our to-do list," Liu says.

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SPACE - S0 - 20191129 - Two Space Mysteries, Record Snow, Volcano, Climate

SPACE - S0 - 20191129 - Two Space Mysteries, Record Snow, Volcano, Climate

Good Morning, Observers!

  

   

A slight uptick in solar wind speeds since yesterday, up to 360 KPS (or only a 30 KPS increase). KP Index still low with KP-0s and KP-1s, with a brief KP-2 jump just to make things interesting. The Phi Angle has been pretty jumpy, though. There's a coronal hole developing in the lower Southern latitudes as it heads toward the midpoint. And the bright spot has moved in further from the Eastern lim but is still well clear of any effect on Earth, showing no signs as yet of sunspot activity beneath it. 
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Science - Alcohol removed from booze-less beer finds use in green detergent

Alcohol removed from booze-less beer finds use in green detergent


By Reuters , November 27,  2019

Bottles of non-alcoholic beer and dishwasher soap at Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in Leuven, Belgium. REUTERS photo

The next time you wash your dishes, you could find yourself up to your elbows in soap suds spiked with leftover alcohol, if the world’s largest brewer and an environmentally friendly detergent firm have their way.
Growing interest in alcohol-free lager, driven by demand for healthier drinks, had left Anheuser-Busch InBev with a problem — what to do with all the alcohol sucked out of its beer.
Bottles of dish soap made from leftover alcohol. REUTERS photo
So it sealed a deal with Belgium-based Ecover to create a dishwashing liquid with a quarter of its content derived from the zero-alcohol versions of the Leffe and Jupiler beer brands.
“The brewery was asking us what can we do with the alcohol, because it’s piling up, it’s a large quantity, that’s why we were looking for partners,” AB InBev’s innovation and technology director for Europe, David De Schutter, told Reuters.
The company said its brewing facility in Leuven — Europe’s largest with a maximum capacity of 1.2 billion liters of beer a year — could extract alcohol and it planned to spread the practice worldwide.
The residual alcohol, which serves as the active cleaning and preservative component, is extracted, cleaned and sent to Ecover for use in its “Too Good to Waste” detergent.
Tom Domen, Ecover's Innovation Manager, with a bottle of dishwasher soap at the Ecover factory in Malle, Belgium. REUTERS photo 
AB InBev said it was looking at ways to re-use other waste. Spent grains may be the next big thing.
Most of the 1.3 million tonnes it produces per year worldwide is currently used as cattle feed. But it said it had potential partners in the pipeline and was looking into turning it into a plant-based meat substitute for humans.
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Thursday, November 28, 2019

A new theory for how black holes and neutron stars shine bright

NOVEMBER 27, 2019, by Columbia University

Here, a massive super-computer simulation shows the strong particle density fluctuations that occur in the extreme turbulent environments that host black holes and neutron stars. Dark blue regions are low particle density regions, while yellow regions are strongly over-dense regions. Particles are accelerated to extremely high speeds due to the interactions with strongly turbulence fluctuations in this environment. Credit: Image from published study

For decades, scientists have speculated about the origin of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from celestial regions that host black holes and neutron stars—the most mysterious objects in the universe.

Astrophysicists believe that this high-energy radiation—which makes neutron stars and black holes shine bright—is generated by electrons that move at nearly the speed of light, but the process that accelerates these particles has remained a mystery.

Now, researchers at Columbia University have presented a new explanation for the physics underlying the acceleration of these energetic particles.

In a study published in the December issue of The Astrophysical Journal, astrophysicists Luca Comisso and Lorenzo Sironi employed massive super-computer simulations to calculate the mechanisms that accelerate these particles. They concluded that their energization is a result of the interaction between chaotic motion and reconnection of super-strong magnetic fields.
"Turbulence and magnetic reconnection—a process in which magnetic field lines tear and rapidly reconnect—conspire together to accelerate particles, boosting them to velocities that approach the speed of light," said Luca Comisso, a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia and first author on the study.

"The region that hosts black holes and neutron stars is permeated by an extremely hot gas of charged particles, and the magnetic field lines dragged by the chaotic motions of the gas, drive vigorous magnetic reconnection," he added. "It is thanks to the electric field induced by reconnection and turbulence that particles are accelerated to the most extreme energies, much higher than in the most powerful accelerators on Earth, like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN."

When studying turbulent gas, scientists cannot predict chaotic motion precisely. Dealing with the mathematics of turbulence is difficult, and it constitutes one of the seven "Millennium Prize" mathematical problems. To tackle this challenge from an astrophysical point of view, Comisso and Sironi designed extensive super-computer simulations —among the world's largest ever done in this research area—to solve the equations that describe the turbulence in a gas of charged particles.


The rapidly spinning neutron star embedded in the center of the Crab nebula is the dynamo powering the nebula's eerie interior bluish glow. The blue light comes from electrons whirling at nearly the speed of light around magnetic field lines from the neutron star. The neutron star, the crushed ultra-dense core of the exploded star, like a lighthouse, ejects twin beams of radiation that appear to pulse 30 times a second. Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester (Arizona State University)

"We used the most precise technique—the particle-in-cell method—for calculating the trajectories of hundreds of billions of charged particles that self-consistently dictate the electromagnetic fields. And it is this electromagnetic field that tells them how to move," said Sironi, assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia and the study's principal investigator.

Sironi said that the crucial point of the study was to identify role magnetic reconnection plays within the turbulent environment. The simulations showed that reconnection is the key mechanism that selects the particles that will be subsequently accelerated by the turbulent magnetic fields up to the highest energies.

The simulations also revealed that particles gained most of their energy by bouncing randomly at an extremely high speed off the turbulence fluctuations. When the magnetic field is strong, this acceleration mechanism is very rapid. But the strong fields also force the particles to travel in a curved path, and by doing so, they emit electromagnetic radiation.

"This is indeed the radiation emitted around black holes and neutron stars that make them shine, a phenomenon we can observe on Earth," Sironi said.

The ultimate goal, the researchers said, is to get to know what is really going on in the extreme environment surrounding black holes and neutron stars, which could shed additional light on fundamental physics and improve our understanding of how our Universe works.

They plan to connect their work even more firmly with observations, by comparing their predictions with the electromagnetic spectrum emitted from the Crab Nebula, the most intensely studied bright remnant of a supernova (a star that violently exploded in the year 1054). This will be a stringent test for their theoretical explanation.

"We figured out an important connection between turbulence and magnetic reconnection for accelerating particles, but there is still so much work to be done," Comisso said. "Advances in this field of research are rarely the contribution of a handful of scientists, but they are the result of a large collaborative effort."

Other researchers, such as the Plasma Astrophysics group at the University of Colorado Boulder, are making important contributions in this direction, Comisso said.

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Scientists discover unpredicted stellar black hole

NOVEMBER 27, 2019, by Chinese Academy of Sciences

Accretion of gas onto a stellar black hole from its blue companion star, through a truncated accretion disk (Artist impression). Credit: YU Jingchuan, Beijing Planetarium, 2019.

An international team headed by Professor LIU Jifeng of the National Astronomical Observatory of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) spotted a stellar black hole with a mass 70 times greater than the sun. The monster black hole is located 15,000 light-years from Earth and has been named LB-1 by the researchers.

The Milky Way galaxy is estimated to contain 100 million stellar black holes—cosmic bodies formed by the collapse of massive stars and so dense even light can't escape. Until now, scientists had estimated the mass of an individual stellar black hole in our galaxy at no more than 20 times that of the sun. But the discovery of a huge black hole by a Chinese-led team of international scientists has toppled that assumption.

The team, headed by Prof. LIU Jifeng of the National Astronomical Observatory of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), spotted a stellar black hole with a mass 70 times greater than the sun. The monster black hole is located 15 thousand light-years from Earth and has been named LB-1 by the researchers. The discovery is reported in the latest issue of Nature.

The discovery came as a big surprise. "Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution," said Prof. LIU. "We thought that very massive stars with the chemical composition typical of our galaxy must shed most of their gas in powerful stellar winds, as they approach the end of their life. Therefore, they should not leave behind such a massive remnant. LB-1 is twice as massive as what we thought possible. Now theorists will have to take up the challenge of explaining its formation."

Until just a few years ago, stellar black holes could only be discovered when they gobbled up gas from a companion star. This process creates powerful X-ray emissions, detectable from Earth, that reveal the presence of the collapsed object.

The vast majority of stellar black holes in our galaxy are not engaged in a cosmic banquet, though, and thus don't emit revealing X-rays. As a result, only about two dozen galactic stellar black holes have been well identified and measured.
To counter this limitation, Prof. LIU and collaborators surveyed the sky with China's Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), looking for stars that orbit an invisible object, pulled by its gravity.

This observational technique was first proposed by the visionary English scientist John Michell in 1783, but it has only become feasible with recent technological improvements in telescopes and detectors. Still, such a search is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack: only one star in a thousand may be circling a black hole.

After the initial discovery, the world's largest optical telescopes—Spain's 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias and the 10-m Keck I telescope in the United States—were used to determine the system's physical parameters. The results were nothing short of fantastic: A star eight times heavier than the sun was orbiting a 70-solar-mass black hole every 79 days.

The discovery of LB-1 fits nicely with another breakthrough in astrophysics. Recently, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo gravitational wave detectors have begun to catch ripples in spacetime caused by collisions of black holes in distant galaxies. Intriguingly, the black holes involved in such collisions are also much bigger than what was previously considered typical.

The direct sighting of LB-1 proves that this population of over-massive stellar black holes exists even in our own backyard. "This discovery forces us to re-examine our models of how stellar-mass black holes form," said LIGO Director Prof. David Reitze from the University of Florida in the U.S.

"This remarkable result along with the LIGO-Virgo detections of binary black hole collisions during the past four years really points towards a renaissance in our understanding of black hole astrophysics," said Reitze.

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SPACE - S0 - 20191128 - Solar Wind, Food Supply, Magnetic Plasma

SPACE - S0 - 20191128 - Solar Wind, Food Supply, Magnetic Plasma

Happy Thanksgiving, Observers!
  
Looks like that coronal hole stream didn't materialize. Current solar wind speed declined much of yesterday, and is around 330 KPS at present. Oddly enough, particle density rose slightly but the KP Index remains low, primarily KP-1s with a couple KP-2s and a KP-0 a few hours ago. An expected dip in Electron intensity, while Protons remained steady. The incoming bright spot mentioned yesterday seems to be comprised of umbral fields only, with no sunspots underlying. Still, always worth keeping track of those little buggers. A Mag 5.6 hit the Scotia Sea, and a 5.5 rumbled under the Carlsberg Ridge. 

Also, here's a bonus video from last night. Solar Magnetism Update, with a Solar Cycle 25 prediction...

  

  
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Defense - Israeli industry foresees growth in Europe — if it can face off against foreign defense giants

Israeli industry foresees growth in Europe — if it can face off against foreign defense giants


By Seth J. Frantzman , Defense News, November 27, 2019

Slovenian soldiers engage targets with a Spike long-range missile during a live-fire exercise. Israeli company Rafael has signed a contract to supply Spike missiles and launchers to the Germany Army. (Visual Information Specialist Davide Dalla Massara/U.S. Army)

JERUSALEM — Israeli defense companies are expanding their footprint in Europe through technologies such as land digitization, avionics upgrades, electronic warfare, and command-and-control systems, with sales totaling up to $2 billion in 2018 for Israel’s three largest defense firms.
On Nov. 18, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced it signed a multiyear contract to supply Spike missiles and launchers to the Germany Army. The deal involves Eurospike, a joint venture of Rheinmetall Electronics and Diehl Defence. The agreement is for 1,500 Spike rounds worth about €200 million (U.S. $221 million).
The Spike contract is one of several recent deals in Europe involving Israeli industry. On Oct. 29, the Swiss Armed Forces selected Elbit Systems to provide a tactical software-defined radio for its Army. The company also went on to sign a $50 million contract with the Portuguese Ministry of Defense to supply the Air Force with an electronic warfare suite over a five-year period.
In addition, the Italian Coast Guard has hired Israel Aerospace Industries to provide its motorboats with MiniPOP electro-optical and infrared systems.
Rafael’s Ariel Karo, executive vice president for marketing and business development, told Defense News that the company intends to maintain close relations with European partners.
“We will also deepen our cooperation with local industries as part of our commitment to share knowledge and technology and to create opportunities for domestic manufacturing of our systems, as we have for the Spike missile, which has essentially become a European missile," Karo said. "We look forward to taking part in the major European programs taking place, such as land digitization, vehicle modernization, air force upgrades and many more.”
For its part, Elbit sees Switzerland as a strategic market. The company’s president and CEO, Bezhalel Machlis, said he wants to expand cooperation with Swiss industry.
And IAI’s executive vice president for marketing, Eli Alfassi, considers Europe a core market for the company, specifically Germany and the United Kingdom. The first two quarters of 2019 saw IAI secure $274 million in European sales, and that year looks on track to outperform 2018’s $395 million for the whole year. Overall global sales at IAI in 2018 came to $3.6 billion, meaning Europe business represented about 10 percent of that total.
IAI’s European sales focus on its Elta Systems group as well as its aviation and UAV divisions. Elta’s focus is radars and electronics, whereas IAI’s aviation group includes both civilian and military contracts. IAI’s line of drones includes platforms such as the tactical Heron, unveiled in Paris over the summer. Rafael, which is known for its Trophy active protection system and its Iron Dome air defense system, recently acquired the UAV-maker Aeronautics in hopes of integrating new unmanned systems into its line of offers. Rafael’s sales of $2.6 billion in 2018 are not broken down specifically for Europe, but the company reports that about half of those total sales cover Europe, Asia and North America.
An Israeli Heron-TP unmanned aircraft sits on the tarmac during the April 2018 Berlin Air Show. (Sebastian Sprenger/Staff)
But Israeli companies, despite their reputation for producing high-end UAVs and their technological prowess in electro-optics, air defense systems and active protection platforms, must still face down other defense giants with global footprints. The U.K., for instance, selected Boeing for an early warning and control aircraft this year in a deal valued at almost $2 billion. Israel Defense reported that Boeing was chosen over an IAI offer.
In addition, Switzerland is seeking ground-based air defense as part of its vision for 2030. Despite interest and an invitation to bid, Rafael did not pitch its David’s Sling. Meanwhile, Raytheon has offered its Patriot system to the Swiss.
Overall, the European market accounted for 26 percent of $7.5 billion in 2018 sales involving Israeli defense companies. According to Elbit’s 2018 figures, 20 percent of its sales came from Europe, totaling $737 million. At the time, Elbit said its sales increased in Europe thanks to electronic warfare and armored vehicle systems. The company reports that the first half of 2019 brought in $388 million worth of sales — about 20 percent of the global total.
“There is an alignment between the operational needs of many European countries with our portfolio of capabilities," said Ran Kril, executive vice president of international marketing and business development at Elbit. "We are witnessing in recent years a significant increase in the demand for our solutions in a variety of areas, including platforms protection, next-generation radios, C2 and cyber, as well as EW and unmanned systems. We believe that our strong industrial presence across Europe and our broad portfolio will enable us to continue to support European customers and to further grow our activities in these markets.”
Elbit’s acquisition of Israel’s IMI Systems is expected to provide the former with added value in Europe. In September, the Dutch announced that Elbit will install the Iron Fist active protection system on the Royal Netherlands Army’s CV-90 combat vehicles. Elbit also was recently awarded a $38 million contract by the U.K. for its joint fires simulation training artillery systems; a deal with Greece to provide the Hellenic Coast Guard with combat suites and perform systems integration for three new patrol vessels; a contract with a European Union agency for maritime patrol drones; and a $73 million contract with the German Air Force for directed infrared counter measures.
Rafael also has hopes for its Spyder air defense system. It signed a deal in 2019 with Romania’s Romaero for local production. As Poland begins arming itself with the Patriot air defense system, produced by American firm Raytheon, the country is considering further bolstering its defense with the David’s Sling stunner interceptor, which is co-produced by Raytheon and Rafael. Poland sought eight batteries of the Patriot, and it’s currently negotiating a second phase of the contract.
The Israel Missile Defense Organization of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully complete a series of tests of the David's Sling Weapon System. (Leah Garton/U.S. Missile Defense Agency)
The demand in Europe for missile defense systems and border-patrolling drones, coupled with what a number of countries there perceive as a threat from Russia, are driving defense investments. Pressure on NATO members to increase their respective defense budgets and military modernization efforts — particularly in Eastern Europe — are proving fruitful for Israeli companies, as businesses there can offer systems already proven on the modern battlefield.
But Israel defense firms trying to go it alone may struggle in competitions involving American companies. Teports indicate that direct competition between the two markets on air defense for European customers is unwelcome. The U.S. supports Israeli development of the David’s Sling stunner interceptor, for example, via Raytheon, which sells the Patriot system. The stunner interceptor, known as SkyCeptor, can be used with the Patriot battery. This plug-and-play approach can benefit both companies, and seems to be the preferred approach over a contest where David’s Sling and Patriot are completely separate offers.
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