Elbit Systems wins $95 million contract for SkyStriker loitering munitions
Elbit's announcement of a sale to a European country of its SkyStriker takes the number of known export customers to five. (Photo: Elbit Systems)
Elbit Systems has been awarded a $95 million contract to supply several hundred SkyStriker loitering munitions to a European country.
The contract is with an undisclosed country and will be carried out over a period of two years.
Shephard Defence Insight lists a unit price of $105,000 meaning the contract maybe for as many as 904 units but this does not take into account ancillary items like launchers, training and support so is likely to be substantially less than half that number.
SkyStriker is a fully autonomous loitering munition that can locate, acquire and engage operator-designated targets with a warhead of up to 10kg, enabling high-precision performance.
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The munition can be launched from a variety of ground and aerial platforms, including a dedicated canister on Elbit’s PULS (Precise and Universal Launching System) rocket artillery.
Equipped with an electric motor, the SkyStriker enables covert operations of up to 2h and with a range of 100km. It can use a number of warhead types and thanks to its modular design, it can be interchanged in the field during pre-flight according to the operational requirement.
SkyStriker has seen some success in Central Asia with sales to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and has also been sold to India.
In a further sign of Elbit’s efforts to establish itself in Europe, on 14 September the company and Europe’s KNDS signed an agreement to formalise their strategic cooperation to create a next-generation rocket artillery system, known as EuroPULS and a further development of PULS.
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