Elul Group News Analysis - Feb 2010
Worrying Signs
Recent events have raised concern in Israel about the future direction of Egypt. These include the fact that Islamic extremist firebrand Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has supported terrorist attacks against Israel, was allowed to address a crowd estimated at 1 million people in Tahrir Square and the fact that Egypt may allow Iranian warships to pass through the Suez Canal. These signs, some sources in Jerusalem say, may point to an evolution in Egyptian policy despite the military's reassurances that it would honor the peace treaty. One possible scenario is an immediate cooling of relations similar to the shift in recent years taken by the Erdogan government in Turkey.
The 21st Century Riddle of the Sphinx
The popular uprising that ended the 30-year reign of Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has been called the world's first Twitter Revolution. That's a misnomer. Though state-of-the-Internet technology may have facilitated communication between the young leaders of demonstrations and some of their followers, the disease that affected Egyptian society and was the root cause of the upheaval goes much deeper.
Just as technology should not get all the credit, the internal status of the state under the old regime is not entirely the cause for the economic malaise that brought Egyptians to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt. The lack of economic opportunity for young, educated Egyptians, widespread and rising food prices are endemic to Egypt's biggest problem – overpopulation, which could be called the 11th Plague. In recent years, fertility rates in the Land of the Nile have dropped by about half, from a high of over seven children per Egyptian mother. Nevertheless, less than six months ago Rand Corp., the U.S. think tank, said that the Egyptian population is still increasing by about 1.5 million people, the equivalent of a country about the size of Kuwait. UN statistics project that the population, which was about 40 million in the 1960s and 62 million in 1995, will reach 115 million before stabilizing in 2065, because fertility rates are still high in some parts of the country. Egypt is the 16th most populous country in the world, but it ranks 136th in per capita Gross Domestic Product (about $6,000).
The growth puts tremendous pressure on the Egyptian economy, where the official unemployment rate is already almost 10% and many hundreds of thousands of new jobs are needed each year just to keep up with the number of young people, many of them educated, who want to enter the workforce. Unemployment rate for the 20-25 year age group has been in the range of 30-40% in the past decade. Ironically, many of these unemployed are middle-class young people who are supported by their parents when they can't find jobs; the Egyptian poor take any employment because they can't afford not to.
The International Monetary Fund says that Egypt needs to create 10 million new jobs, most of them labor-intensive. Without those jobs and those of Egyptians who worked in the Gulf until the economic downturn, sending money home to support their families, the frustration and anger vented by the throngs in Tahrir Square and elsewhere will only increase.
Against this background, the new rulers of Egypt, whoever they may be, face immense challenges that cannot be solved by democracy alone. What will be required is massive help from foreigners, who look for the stability that is far from a given, without whom the revolution would have been in vain.
At this stage, the prospects of the young reformers who led the Tahrir Square uprising seem slim. With no political experience or organizational infrastructure, governing would be an overwhelming task even if they were somehow to emerge as the victors in the promised election. The military has organization and infrastructure, but it and its leaders may be identified with the old regime and likely may face mass protests were they to renege on their promise of free and fair elections.
On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood has experience, an organization and a popular base; it is estimated that 10% of the members of the current parliament are Brothers who ran under other tickets, and that the Brothers would have won 20% had the last elections been open, free and fair.
Observers in Israel put little stock in the Muslim Brothers' efforts to “brand” themselves in the eyes of the West as a moderate, conservative political party. In the mid-1980s, they note, many welcomed the emergence of Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza as a religious organization interested only in improving healthcare, running orphanages and schools, and providing other social services, just the kind of activities the Muslim Brothers point to as “evidence” of their benign intentions.
On the other hand, the Muslim Brothers make no effort to conceal their long-term goal, establishment of a caliphate across the entire Islamic world, similar to Iran, from North Africa to Indonesia, ruled under Shar'ia religious law. In the not-unlikely case that popular democracy fails to provide the answers to Egypt's urgent problems, those who say that Islam is the answer are already keen to take over, while the young democratic firebrands of Tahrir Square vanished as suddenly as they appeared.
Western media tend to categorize unrest in various parts of the Islamic world that have taken place in the aftermath of the ouster of leaders in Tunisia and Egypt as a pent-up pro-democracy movement, an attitude that may be mistaken. Protesters in Bahrain, for example, are predominantly members of the Shi'ite Muslim majority seeking concessions from, but not the removal of, the country's Sunni Muslim ruling class. And in Iran, there are two main opposition strains with different goals: one group wants to reform the system under which the country is ruled, the other wants to throw it out.
New IDF Chief of Staff
Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz took over as chief of general staff of the Israel Defense Forces on February 4. He replaces Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. The appointment of Gantz, 51, was ratified by the cabinet the previous day, after the previous choice of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, was vetoed due to a real estate transaction, in which the officer was involved.
Katzav Convicted
A Tel Aviv District Court in late December found former president Moshe Katsav guilty of rape and sexual assault. The verdict of the three-judge panel, handed down more than four years of accusations against Katsav when he was president and earlier as minister of tourism, was unanimous.
Katsav, 65, was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting A., a former employee of the Tourism Ministry, sexually harassing H, and sexually abusing and harassing L., both employees at Beit Hanassi, the official residence and office of Israel's presidents, and of obstruction of justice.
Medvedev Itinerary Changes
Sanctions by Israeli Foreign Ministry employees seeking improved work conditions forced a change in the mid-January itinerary of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's visit to the region. The Israel portion of his trip was called off, but the Russian leader nevertheless visited the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.
Drops to Drink
The government on January 30 approved an emergency plan to increase Israel's annual production of desalinated seawater to 420M cubic meters, equivalent to the annual amount pumped from Lake Kinneret, the country's main water reservoir. Under the plan, adopted after several years of below-average precipitation in the winter rainy season, capacity of the Sorek plant, currently under construction south of Tel Aviv, will be increased by 30M cubic meters, while existing plants at Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, and Ashkelon and Palmahim on the southern coast, will be expanded by 30M cubic meters.
Saving Lake Victoria
An Israeli-German mission was due to leave for Kenya in February in a joint effort by the two countries to save Lake Victoria, which is threatened by ecological disaster due to low oxygen levels. About 30 million people make their living from lower levels of oxygen in the seaweed filled lake; the goal is to prevent a continued deterioration and contamination of the lake.
The Economy
Fast Growth
Israel's GDP rose by an annualized, seasonally adjusted 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported. GDP rose by an annualized 5.4% in the second half of last year, after rising 5% in the first half, and 3.4% in the second half of 2009. The fourth-quarter growth rate was the fastest since 2006, an exceptional period because recovery from the drop in QIII/06 influenced that year's fourth-quarter statistics. The growth rate in the fourth quarter was the fastest since 2006, when Israel fought the Second Lebanon War, after which the economy showed robust growth.
For all of 2010, the economy expanded by 4.5%, 0.8% greater than the previous year and 1.7% more than the 2.8% average of all OECD member countries. Israel trailed South Korea's 6.2%, Chile's 5.2% and Mexico, at 5%, but was ahead of Sweden's 4.4%, Japan's 3.7% and Germany's 3.5%.
Record Auto Imports
A record 216,430 motor vehicles were imported to Israel in 2010, according to an analysis of auto importers' statistics by Globes. Private passenger cars, which at 181,000 make up the bulk of the imports, rose by 25.3% over 2009. Mazda was the most popular car, with 31,800 vehicles, followed by Hyundai (30,450, up 50%), Toyota (22,300), Suzuki (12,200), and Volkswagen (11,500).
2.7% Inflation
Israel's inflation was 2.7% in 2010, the first year since 2005 in which the annual inflation goal set by the government (1-3%) has been met.
Chinese Exports
Israel's exports to China amounted to $1.8M last year, according to Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labor figures. The ministry's Foreign Trade Department has designated China, the world's largest exporter, as a target for Israeli exports, and has developed programs to promote exports to the world's most populous country.
India Top Asian Tourism Source
India passed South Korea and took first place in the ranking of Asian countries for incoming tourism to Israel, with more than 40,000 tourists, displacing Korea from the top slot after several years. The number of tourists from India rose 75% compared with 2009, while Korea had 33,000 tourists.
Diamond Exports Up
Israeli net exports of polished diamonds jumped 48.1% to $5.8B in 2010, as the industry recovered from the global financial crisis and expanded its presence in Asia. Net rough diamond exports grew 62.1% to $3.1B in 2010, while polished diamond imports rose 68% to $4.2B and rough diamond imports grew 51% to $3.8B.
Shekel Too Strong
The strength of the shekel, Israel's currency, may be too much of a good thing. According to the Israel Manufacturers Association, the strong shekel cost business $3.3B in 2010. The survey found that the loss in export deals totaled $2.3B, and the loss on domestic deals was $1.1B. Half the companies surveyed by the association said that their competitiveness in international markets was harmed in 2010, to the point of losing customers.
Dagan's New Job
Meir Dagan, who recently retired as head of the Mossad intelligence agency, will be named to head the Israel Ports Development & Assets Company Ltd. and will be responsible for implementing a national regional transport and strategic plan, Minister of Transport Israel Katz decided. Dagan will replace Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Yiftah Ron-Tal, who was elected chairman of Israel Electric Corp.
Tamar Gas on Track
The Tamar natural gas field east of Haifa is on track for first production in early 2013, according to a Barclays estimate. After confirming the presence of 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the first target strata, the Leviathan exploratory well is now targeting the deeper multi-billion barrel oil-bearing target strata, which have low probability of success. The well is due to reach the third target strata, at a depth of 7,200 meters, by the end of the first quarter. There are plans for 3-4 exploration wells this year.
Tamar was sanctioned in late September and development work is under way. The rig currently drilling at Leviathan is expected to move to Tamar in April, Noble Energy is expected to drill around four wells this year. The pipeline installation is scheduled to begin around August and the platform, which began fabrication late last year, is targeted for installation for the second half of 2012. The company expects to begin expanding the Ashdod onshore facility this year. The project is expected to be commissioned in late 2012 and first production is expected in very early 2013.
The Leviathan field, which one expert called the largest drilling in a decade, is estimated to hold gas valued at $90B – and perhaps considerably higher if the gas from it is exported rather than used domestically in Israel.
In the meantime Israel gets most of its gas from the Yam Tethys offshore site, in the Mediterranean east of Ashkelon. Gas purchased from EMG, an Israeli-Egyptian venture, has been interrupted due to an explosion on the pipeline bringing the gas across the Sinai Peninsula. Noble Energy of Texas and subsidiaries of Israel's Delek group, headed by Yitzhak Tshuva, are the major partners in Yam Tethys, Tamar and Leviathan.
Finance & Investment
Intel Plant Moves Ahead
Intel has confirmed plans to invest $2.7B in its southern Israel facility in order to produce 22-nanometer technology for semiconductors. The international chipmaker's two-year investment plan in the Kiryat Gat factory includes a recently approved $210M grant from the Israeli Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labor. The new venture will create about 1,000 jobs, in addition to the 7,057 people Intel currently employs in Israel.
Tech Fundraising Up
391 Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.26B from local and foreign venture investors in 2010, according to an IVC Research Center survey. The amount raised was 13% above the $1.12B raised in 2009, but 39% below the $2.08B raised in 2008. In the fourth quarter, 100 Israeli high-tech companies raised $344M from venture capital funds, up slightly from the $341M raised in the third quarter and 25% above the $275M raised in the last quarter of 2009.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Elbit-M7 Acquisition
Elbit Systems, Israel's largest private defense and aerospace contractor, has acquired M7 Aerospace for $87M in cash. M7, based in Texas, provides aviation services such as aerostructure manufacturing, government logistics support services, maintenance, repair and overhaul, engineering services and aircraft parts and support. M7 Aerospace will become part of Elbit Systems of America's (ESA) support to fleets operated by the U.S. military and commercial customers.
Corning-Mobile Access
U.S. giant Corning Inc. has acquired MobileAccess (formerly Foxcom Wireless), a leading provider of wireless network solutions. Purchase price was not announced, but was estimated to be in the $150-$200M range. Founded in 1998, Foxcom Wireless, which has company headquarters in Vienna, Virginia, and a development center in Israel, develops distributed antenna system (DAS) solutions for wireless telecommunications coverage inside buildings. Customers include AT&T, Verizon and Deutsche Telekom AG.
Teva-Infarmasa
Teva, the world-class pharmaceutical company based in Petah Tikva and Jerusalem, purchased Corporación Infarmasa, a top-ten pharmaceutical company in Peru, from The Rohatyn Group and Altra Investments. Estimated value of the transaction is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Teva said that the combination of Corporación Medco, Teva’s existing Peruvian operation and Infarmasa will be one of the top two pharmaceutical companies in the country.
Infarmasa manufactures and commercializes branded and unbranded generic drugs, primarily corticosteroids, antihistamines, analgesics and antibiotics. Its portfolio consists of over 600 registered products, of which over 500 are currently marketed. The company has two manufacturing facilities in Lima, the Peruvian capital city. Citi estimates that the acquisition of Corporacion Infarmasa will add $50-60M to Teva's international generics sales in 2011.
Malamteam-Eltel
MalamTeam, a leading Israel IT services group, is moving into the defense market with the purchase of 50% of Eltel Technologistics from Elul Tamarynd. Purchase price is NIS 35M (about $10M) in cash. An MOU between the two was signed recently.
Eltel specializes in the management services for outsourcing of technology and logistics projects, especially in Israel. After announcement of the deal, shares in Elul Tamarynd, which is headed by David Kolitz and managed by Avner Raz, rose by 6% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Nice-Cybertech International
Nice Systems, based in Ra'anana in the high-tech belt northeast of Tel Aviv, has paid $60M for CyberTech International BV, a Dutch developer of voice logging, compliance recording solutions and value-added applications, for $60M. Nice said that the acquisition will broaden its product line for financial institutions, strengthen its commitment to the small and mid-sized business sector, and add to its public safety solutions.
Elbit's "Pearls"
Elbit Systems, Israel's largest defense contractor, is investing up to $18M in Pearls of Wisdom, an Israeli developer of microsensors for intelligence gathering, enabling what Elbit calls “terrain dominance.”
Pearls of Wisdom has developed the “pearls” system, a miniaturized wireless sensor networks (WSN) that can be used for various applications, from security, homeland defense, to industrial mechanization, process control, ecology and transportation. The “pearls” form a spatially distributed network of miniaturized nodes that cooperatively monitor physical parameters and environmental conditions.
The Pearls of Wisdom purchase follows two South American acquisitions for Elbit last December, Brazil's Ares Aeroespacial e Defesa and Periscópio Equipamentos Optrônicos, both providers of defense electronic systems to the South American market. Shareholders in Pearls of Wisdom include Rafi Gidron, one of the founders of the Chromatis networking firm, and venture capitalist Chemi Peres, the initiator of Pitango V.C.
Science & High Technology
TA University New Material
Scientists at Tel Aviv University developed the world's strongest organic material from beta amyloids, the kind of proteins found in the brains of Alzheimer's victims. The transparent material is stronger than Kevlar, the fiber used in body armor, and tougher than steel. It is anticipated that the material will eventually be used to make strong, inexpensive body armor, as well as construction materials to replace ceramics and reinforced glass.
The proteins are similar, but not identical, to those connected with Alzheimer's. TAU Prof. Ehud Gazit, head of the team that developed the material, hopes that it will be commercialized in a relatively short time, noting that it took 20 years from the discovery of Kevlar in the 1960s till its use in body armor.
Video Boss
AOL has named Ran Har-Nevo, one of the founders of 5Min Video, senior vice-president responsible for the firm's video operations. The American Internet service provider acquired 5Min, a Tel Aviv-based firm specializing in video syndication, in September 2010 for a reported $50-$65M.
Indian Advance
Orckit, the Tel Aviv-based maker of equipment that facilitates telecommunication providers' delivery of high-capacity broadband residential, business and mobile services over wireline and wireless networks, anticipates cumulative revenues of S100M from the Indian market in the next 2-3 years, according to an interview on the Light Reading website with the firm's senior VP for technology and marketing, Eli Aloni.
Better Wheat
Bayer CropScience AG of Monheim, Germany, will invest $12M in Rehovot-based Evogene as part of a five-year collaboration to accelerate the development and introduction of improved wheat varieties. Improvements will be pursued for wheat yield, drought tolerance, fertilizer use efficiency and certain other wheat traits utilizing a combination of advanced breeding and state of the art genetic modification methods. Bayer will incorporate genetically modified and native traits identified by Evogene into its wheat pipeline.
Hebrew University INK Deal Inked
Yissum Research Development Company, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's technology transfer company, and Vaxan Steel., a leading Korean company in the field of innovative printing, signed a licensing and research agreement for the development of silver nanoparticles and silver-coated copper nanoparticles for conductive inks. These inks can be utilized in a variety of printing technologies, including inkjet printing.
Technion Revolutionary Batteries
Researchers at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa have developed a silicon-air battery capable of working non-stop for thousands of hours. For years, Technion Prof. Yair Ein Eli has been researching metal-air batteries, which he says have a significant advantage in weight and costs because, instead of a built-in cathode, they use oxygen that comes from the atmosphere.
Zinc-air batteries, which are light and long-lasting, have been used in hearing aids, and there have been experiments, including in Israel, to upgrade the technology for use in automobiles. Ein Eli says silicon “is a more common material, not dangerous, more stable, light weight and has high energy capacity (four electrons are transferred during oxidation of a single silicon atom). We actually turned it into sand (silicon dioxide) during battery usage. This will be a non-rechargeable battery like similar batteries around today.” When fully developed, Ein Eli's batteries should be capable of an unlimited shelf life, supply energy for thousands of hours without replacement, and can be used in medical devices like hearing aids and in electronics as a built-in part of a structure entirely from silicon.
Searching for Mutations
Israeli scientists say they have developed an innovative system for genetic examinations of large groups of people that is less expensive, faster and more accurate than current methods.
The Israeli system combines several dozen samples for a single test. Computer expert Dr. Noam Shental of Israel's Open University, explains the advantage by saying, “Today, when we have several thousand DNA samples to examine, we must prepare each of the samples for about 10 tests, and only afterwards conduct the tests themselves. Even if the tests themselves become less expensive, this problem remains.” The Shental research team also includes Israeli scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Harvard and MIT.
Egg Accuracy
BSP (Biological Signal Processing), based in Tel Aviv, in February, signed a representation agreement with India's Hightech Medical Solutions Ltd. to manage the company's sales and marketing activity in India. BSP has obtained Food and Drug Administration marketing approval for HyperQ, an add-on device which, when attached to any commercial electrocardiogram system, enables a more accurate diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. BSP has a two-year U.S. distribution agreement to hospitals Synergestic Medical Network LLC.
For years, cardiologists and emergency care specialists have sought ways to make more accurate on-the-spot diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. BSP founder Dr. Amir Becker, a physicist, explains that current methods are problematic: a conventional ECG may be normal when the patient has a blockage of the coronary arteries, and serum biomarkers, regularly-used to identify myocardial infarctions, provide definite diagnosis only hours after the onset of symptoms, when the heart may already have been damaged. HyperQ, according to Becker, utilizes advanced signal processing to extract information, allowing a much quicker diagnosis.
Aerospace & Defense
IAI, Rafael to Merge
Plans to privatize financially-troubled Israel Military Industries (IMI) have been scrapped. Instead, the government and the Histadrut trade union federation pushed forward with a plan to merge IMI with another, profitable government-owned defense contractor, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Finances was a key factor in the choice of Rafael over the third government-owned defense contractor, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Rafael has better cash flow, higher profits and more financial assets, though IMI would be initially a financial burden on whoever acquires it. Rafael receives hundreds of millions of shekels from the state to pay pensions, while IAI pays for this out of pocket.
The choice of Rafael will lead to lower costs for integrating the new employees; IAI has a single collective employment agreement for all employees, while Rafael has a number of different agreements, and IMI workers could join the newly-merged firm with fewer changes and lower costs, according to an analysis in Ha'aretz.
Namer Production to US
A special government committee headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak has approved a NIS 10B (about $3B) procurement of several hundred new Namer (Hebrew for Leopard) armored personnel carriers (APCs) over the next ten years. The Ministry of Defense will use its budget and US military aid to finance the procurements.
The Namer is built on a Merkava tank chassis. Both the Merkava and the Namer were developed by the Ministry of Defense TPM-Tank Development Administration. Development of the Namer began in response to the lessons of the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Two battalions of the Golani infantry brigade are already equipped with it.
The Namer is considered one of the most advanced APCs in the world. The defense establishment claims that it provides maximum protection to the troops maneuvering in the field, thanks to its active armor components originally developed for the Merkava, including the Trophy system developed by Rafael. Israel has handed mass production of the Namer to General Dynamics Land Systems (NYSE: GD) in the US. The defense establishment says that this should not affect Israeli defense contractors, because while the Namer and its spare parts will be built in the US, the APCs will be assembled in Israel.
Production of the chassis of the vehicle by General Dynamics Land Systems at a plant in Ohio will enable the utilization of US aid funds for the project.
Elbit Deals
Elbit Systems, Israel's private defense contractor, began the year by winning two major contracts. Aeroelectrica, Elbit's Brazilian subsidiary, was awarded a multi-year $260M framework contract for “several hundred” UT30BR unmanned gun turrets. The turrets, mounting 30mm automatic cannons will be integrated on VBTP-MR Guarani 6×6 armored vehicles. The Brazilian Army plans to buy 2,044 Guarani armored vehicles over 20 years, under a multi-year program valued at about US$3.5B. Guarani will replace the obsolete 6×6 Urutu vehicle currently used by Brazilian armed forces.
Elisra Electronic Systems, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, has been awarded a $29M South Korean contract for Airborne Electronic Warfare (EW) Suites and Missile Warning Systems (MWS) for its ROKAF CN-235 Transporters. The advanced and integrative EW suites include protection systems against various threats. Elbit also won a $16M Polish Defense Ministry contract to provide a testing set of mobile multi-sensor surveillance and monitory systems for the Rosomak8x8 armored personnel carrier. The system will provide TV, thermal vision, motion-detection battlefield surveillance and encrypted communication, and will be linked to an unmanned aircraft system.
TNT Delivery
IAI has delivered the first of 11 Boeing 737 airliners converted to freighters for TNT Express, an Australian-based courier company. TNT's total order, valued at tens of millions of U.S. dollars, is for eight more Boeing 737-400s and two 737-300s, to be delivered until mid-2012. The freighters, being converted at IAI's Bedek Aviation Group, will replace 737s in TNT’s current fleet. The carrier plans to use the aircraft to increase the capacity of its European operations.
Litening Partnership
Rafael and Northrop Grumman, the US defense contractor, recently marked the sale of the 1,000th Litening Advanced Targeting Pod. The partnership, which began in 1996, has supple Litening multispectral targeting and navigation pods and spinoff systems, developed by government-owned Rafael, for the US military and nearly two dozen countries “in NATO and beyond,” according to a report in the authoritative Defense News. The sales generated by the systems, about 51% of which are manufactured at Northrop Grumman's plant in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, are “well over $1B to date,” according to Defense News. The Northrop-Grumman team recently was selected as a second source to Lockheed Martin in a planned US Air Force acquisition of 670 sniper pods through 2017.
Gilat's Jackpot
Spacenet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks, headquartered in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv, will supply a satellite communications system to support about 27,000 state lottery sites in Texas and Illinois. Market sources value the deal at $0-$50M. Earlier, Gilat won a similar contract for state lotteries in Indiana and Louisiana.
Spacenet provides VSAT (very small aperture terminal) solutions tailored to the specific needs of the lottery market.
Taxibot to Save Millions
IAI has completed a successful series of tests on “Taxibot,” a towing vehicle capable of towing even the largest passenger planes from the passenger gate to the runway, rendering it unnecessary for the planes to operate their jet engines. IAI anticipates sale of taxibots to airlines, at an estimated cost of $3M per unit, to reach 1,500 by 2020.
Moving from passenger gates to runways, a distance of several miles at many airports, consumes huge quantities of jet fuel. (A Boeing 747 uses a ton of jet fuel every 17 minutes.) IAI project manager Ron Brayer told Globes that airlines will save billions of dollars on fuel, noise at airports will be diminished and there will be less pollution from aircraft exhausts.
Ness Contract
Ness Technologies has won a $16M contract to provide a training and simulation system to an unnamed country's national command and control center. The solution will be based on Tel Aviv-based Ness's sophisticated Integrated Command and Control System (ICCS), which Ness implemented for the purchasing country beginning in May 2008.
