Windsurfing Competition in Tel Aviv

IAI and Airbus to Develop Environmentally Conscious Taxiing System

Article published on Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd website, June 17, 2009

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Airbus have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 2009 International Paris Air Show to jointly develop and test an innovative environmentally friendly pilot-controlled towing semi-robotic system.
The Taxibot Dispatch Towing system, designed by IAI, allows both wide and narrow body commercial airplanes to taxi to and from the gate and the runway without the use of their jet engines.

The revolutionary Taxibot Dispatch Towing concept represents a potential to reduce annual fuel costs from $8 billion to less than $2 billion, CO2 emissions from 18 billion tons to less than 2 million tons per year, and noise emissions by a significant margin.

Yehushua (Shuki) Eldar, IAI's Corporate VP of Business Development and Subsidiaries says: "We are excited to work on the development of this eco-efficient taxiing dispatch system. The project demonstrates our commitment to the environment and utilizes IAI's robotics capabilities and technological experience.”

IAI and Airbus are studying the performance, operational, commercial, and safety aspects of the system on a series of ground taxiing tests on Airbus' A-340-600 airplane in Toulouse. The companies have agreed that following successful test period results, they may establish a Joint Venture (JV) to develop and certify the Taxibot and market the program.

According to plans, the Taxibot operational system is expected to be ready for first deliveries by the third quarter of 2011.

The special design of the Taxibot gives the pilot full control of the system during the taxiing process, and uses the existing airplane controls in the same way that the pilot is accustomed to when taxiing using the airplane's engines. The use of the Taxibot system requires no modification to the airplane and minimal modifications to the airport infrastructure which will not affect existing taxiways and runways.

For the last three years, IAI has invested R&D resources in environmentally conscious programs, including the development of renewable energy technologies, as part of a strategic plan to increase its civilian activities. Taxibot is a significant step forward that can modify the taxiing process in airports to save fuel, decrease noise levels and air pollution in comparison with today's ground operational processes.

Israeli UAVs expected to steal the show at Paris expo

Article in Jerusalem Post June 14, 2009
By Yaakov Katz

A hovercraft designed to evacuate wounded soldiers from an urban battlefield, an unmanned helicopter and a kamikaze drone will be unveiled to the public on Monday at Israel's official pavilion at the 48th Paris Air Show.

Twelve Israeli companies - including Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael, Urban Aeronautics and Elbit Systems - will present their wares at the Israeli national pavilion, which cost over NIS 6 million to erect at the Le Bourget expo center.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak flew to Paris on Sunday to attend the opening.

One new platform that will be on display is the MULE medical evacuation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under development by Urban Aeronautics, based in Yavne.

The IDF has expressed interest in the MULE, which the company has said is capable of delivering supplies and ferrying casualties within a battle zone. The MULE can carry approximately 317 kilograms over an 80-kilometer radius. The speed of the MULE is expected to be in the range of 100 knots, with a maximum operating altitude of 3,660 meters.

Another UAV slated to be unveiled on Monday is the Picador, an unmanned helicopter developed by Aeronautics Defense Systems. The Picador has already made its first flight test and is designed for naval and land-based operations. It has a range of 200 km. and is reportedly capable of carrying a 180-kg. payload.

HAROP being launched and hitting the target

Another drone on display is the HAROP loitering munition, a self-destructing drone that can be used to detect and destroy missile launchers, anti-aircraft systems and naval craft. Developed by IAI, the HAROP can be launched from various platforms.

Rather than carrying a separate missile or warhead, the HAROP drone itself is the weapon and is designed to be a hunter and killer by loitering above a battlefield and attacking targets. It was specifically designed to suppress enemy air defense systems.

IAI recently signed a $100 million contract to supply the HAROP to a foreign customer, reportedly India.

"This is a state-of-the-art loitering munition system which features accurate detection capabilities and minimizes collateral damage to the surrounding area," IAI CEO Itzhak Nissan said.

In related news, Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel has decided to purchase the Iron Fist active-protection system developed by Israel Military Industries for the army's new "Namer" armored personnel carriers (APC). Currently in its final development stages, the Iron Fist is capable of intercepting and destroying a wide range of anti-tank missiles, from old RPGs and standard tank shells to the Russian-made advanced missiles in Hizbullah's and Syria's arsenals.

The Iron Fist consists of a radar and passive optical system that detects incoming threats and destroys them within a fraction of a second using a combustible blast interceptor. Unlike similar active-protection systems, which fire off a large number of projectiles, the Iron Fist intercepts incoming threats by using a rocket the shape of a mortar shell. The rocket destroys the threat with a blast that crushes its soft components or deflects the missile or kinetic projectile in flight.

Israel-US Team Kills Breast Cancer in the Dark

Article on Arutz Sheva June 12, 2009
By by Karin Kloosterman

With the alarming incidence of breast cancer in America -- one in eight women can expect to get it sometime in their life -- new solutions for women, their mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters and friends, cannot come fast enough. An Israeli-American research team has stumbled onto a new and interesting find - a non-radiation based therapy that may provide relief for an aggressive and hard to treat breast cancer cell known as HER2+, but which could also have wider applications for treating all kinds of cancer.

Breast cancer alone is the most common form of cancer among U.S. women, and the second leading cause of death after lung cancer. About 200,000 women in the U.S. alone had breast cancer in 2008, and about 40,000 will die from it each year.

Prof. Zeev Gross, from the Technion / Israel Institute of Technology has played no small role in the new research paper that shows positive results for the new non-radiation based therapy based on the chemical compound gallium corroles.

Published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Israel-U.S. team, including scientists from the California Institute of Technology and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were able to show positive pre-clinical results on the new treatment that homes in on HER2+.

Using a new-to-science organic chemical called a corrole, described about 10 years ago, Gross was able to develop a powerful method that synthesizes these chemicals for practical use in medicine. From being able to make a couple of milligrams in two years, Gross' team could produce two grams in two days.

Lights up and kills cancer
The beauty of the new chemical compound, waiting for an investment in order to go to clinical trials, is that it not only works in diagnostics, lighting up and showing doctors where the cancer cells are, it is also somehow able to kill the cancer at the same time. Gross has also found it works for treating arterial sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which leads to heart disease.

"We started in cancer wanting to take advantage of a property of this compound," Gross tells ISRAEL21c. "They are highly florescent and we wanted to use them to detect cancer. We found at the cellular level [gallium corroles were] useful for imaging, but also found it could kill cancer with high specificity and could be an alternative to chemotherapy.

"We were surprised," he continues. "It could be used for selective killing of cancer cells. Focusing on breast cancer cells, our collaborators developed a vector, a virus based gene delivery protein, and we said let's use it for corroles."

Testing this idea, the researchers were pleased to see the dual effects of this chemical. Gross explains: "In most cases, if people want to get a closer look at a drug in vivo, they have to attach a fluorescent probe to it - and that turns it into a different molecule.

"But in our case, the active molecule we're tracking does the fluorescing. We get to track the original, unmodified molecule and are hence able to follow its distribution among different organs in live animals."

Fewer side effects than chemotherapy
In the new study the international team combined a gallium corrole with a protein carrier so that the corrole would show an affinity to cancer cells. According to the researchers, when tried on mice with breast cancer, it became a targeted cancer therapy able to both detect and eliminate tumors in mice. They report fewer side effects compared to other breast cancer treatments.

Corroles are similar in structure to porphyrin molecules used today in a well-researched cancer treatment called photodynamic therapy, or PDT. Porphyrin compounds are injected into the body and are then exposed to specific wavelengths of laser light. The light causes the porphyrins to create tumor-killing oxygen radicals.

The difference between porphyrins and the team's corroles, explain researchers, is that corroles don't need laser light to be activated, in effect it's killing "cancer cells in the dark," they say.

In the study on mice corroles, the Israel-U.S. team was able to shrink breast cancer tumors at doses five times lower than standard chemo treatments (based on a drug called doxorubicin). Also, the corroles could be injected straight into the bloodstream and not into the tumor, making the treatment, if developed clinically, easier to administer.

"Using lower concentrations means less toxicity. Doxorubicin tends to have significant heart toxicity; this therapy seems likely to be much less damaging to the heart," Daniel Farkas, a co-researcher in the study and the director of Cedar-Sinai's Minimally Invasive Surgical Technologies Institute tells ISRAEL21c.

Putting statins out of business?
But the Israeli team finds it could work in heart disease as well: iron corroles are also able to provide reversal effects of arterial sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, says Gross. With a different mode of action than gallium corroles, "We took mice prone to develop arterial sclerosis and treated them with the same family of compounds. It's a very potent antioxidant," he says. "It's interfering with the process causing arterial sclerosis."

"We already know about green tea, red wine, or pomegranate," he explains, noting that his innovation is better than natural antioxidants that at same stage can also attack vital biomolecules. The therapy was shown to work in successful pre-clinical studies, while the medicinal value of corroles, says Gross, was something his Technion lab initiated 10 years ago.

"We discovered how to synthesize corroles and are the main people pushing forward the fundamentals of science," says Gross, noting the applications are wide and three-fold in catalysis, in medicine, and in renewable energy.

The Technion lab's senior scientist Dr. Atif Mahammed, an Israeli Arab is "a leading figure in this whole project," says Gross, who says his lab is also enriched with a team of gifted scientists from the former Soviet Union.

Funding for the research was provided by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, the National Science Foundation in the US, the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Defense, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Donna and Jesse Garber Award, the Gurwin Foundation, and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

Tel Aviv celebrates 'White Night'

Article on Ynetnews May 28, 2009
By Josh Lichtenstein

Third annual festival honoring city's status as World Heritage Site marked with night of partying. Restaurants, bars, cafés remain open all night, with free concerts and cultural activities across city.

On Wednesday night Tel Aviv celebrated its third annual “White Night” festival with parties and special events throughout the city. Bars, restaurants, and cultural institutions kept their doors open late into the night creating a vibrant atmosphere across the city.

The city has been holding the event for the past three years to celebrate its UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) status as a World Heritage Site.
Tel Aviv has been recognized around the world for its beautiful Bauhaus style architecture and rich cultural heritage. Lining Rothschild Boulevard and Bialik Street, buildings were illuminated with special lighting. The city offered guided tours of the architecture along Bialik street. The streets were filled with people, many dressed in white, all joining together to party in beautiful Tel Aviv.

So much to see

Throughout Tel Aviv cultural events took place late into the night. Most of the events were free to the public , which allowed more people to take part. In the station complex of the Neve Tzedek neighborhood, the Gesher Theatre company performed selected acts from William Shakespeare's “The Twelfth Night”. In the Sharon Garden of Hahashmal Park, Israeli Opera soloists performed a special concert of Israeli songs accompanied by piano. Elsewhere, the Tel Aviv Opera House presented a midnight showing of a selection of popular operas.

The flea market in Jaffa stayed open late allowing shoppers to wonder through art galleries, restaurants, and cafes. The biggest parties took place along the beach where people danced and partied to the sound of live music and deejays. Mante Ray beach held a huge free party sponsored by Club Med with free music and dancing. Bars and cafes near the water were packed with people. There was an amazing amount of energy in the air with the all the activities going on throughout the city.

Incredible nightlife

Gabriel Rosenberg, a Tel Aviv resident who recently moved to the city, described his first “White Night” experience to Ynet saying, “White night is an unbelievable event where people from all around Tel Aviv can get together and enjoy incredible nightlife and an atmosphere that compares to no other place on earth. Where else can you find so many beautiful people and live music in one place, together with such amazing weather?“

The city of Tel Aviv invested NIS 350,000 (roughly $90,000) in this year's events. Surprisingly, the Florentine neighborhood, which is a major party hub during Purim and Independence Day celebrations, did not hold any events.

Elbit Systems wins €25m order from Austrian Army

Article on GLOBES [online] May 18, 2009
By Globes' correspondent

The company will supply 12.7mm remote controlled weapon stations for jeeps.

Elbit Systems Ltd. has won a €25 million contract from the Austrian Army for the company's new 12.7mm unmanned electrically remote controlled weapon stations. Deliveries will be made over the next four years.

This is Elbit Systems' third international contract within a week.

Elbit Systems Ltd. logo

Elbit Systems signed the contract with Fiat Group SpA (Milan: F) subsidiary Iveco SpA, the prime contractor for the program. The weapon stations will be integrated into Iveco Defense Vehicles' 4x4 Light Multi-role Vehicles jeeps.

The weapon stations include day and night detection systems and a multi-threat detection system that can detect, categorize and pinpoint laser, radar, and radio-frequency sources of threats. The weapon stations are designed for light combat vehicles, adding sensors and firepower, without greatly increasing the vehicle's weight.

Elbit Systems Land and C4I Tadiran general manager Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis said, "We are proud to have been selected to take part in this important project for the Austrian Armed Forces. Elbit Systems' co-operation with Iveco Defence Vehicles reflects the level of recognition we have achieved with our customers and international partners. The selection of our systems constitutes a breakthrough in an emerging international market emanating from a shift in the modern battlefield."

Arad takes a personal approach to promote itself as 'recycling city'

Article on The Jerusalem Post May 16, 2009
By Ehud Zion Waldoks

Arad has launched a project to rebrand itself as the "recycling city." The Negev town has begun to encourage all forms of recycling, from paper and plastic to old clothes.

Yet what is unique about the project are not the technical aspects. Their tools are the same as in other Israeli cities: cages for plastic bottles, containers for batteries and cylinders for paper. There are no advanced technological elements.

Instead, the focus of the project is on the people: on cooperation and collaboration.

Arad Municipality building

The project began as an unusual collaboration among a foreign donor, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the Environmental Protection Ministry, the local environmental unit, the municipality and the Or Movement, which seeks to encourage settlement in the Negev.

The idea was first raised by Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Charitable Foundation out of Boston. Ruderman runs all of his family foundation's day-to-day activities from Israel, having made aliya three-and-a-half years ago.

"Where I lived [in Boston] we were recycling everything. So I tried to think of a way to improve recycling in Israel," he told The Jerusalem Post recently. "We approached the JNF because they have a project to develop the Negev. We shopped the idea around and Arad was the most interested."

This is the foundation's first foray into an environmental education endeavor, but Ruderman hopes it will become a model which can be replicated across the Negev and throughout Israel.

The foundation has been active in other types of educational activities both here and in the Boston area.

For Ruderman, the partnership aspects were critical.

"Partnerships maximize what you can do," he said.

JNF CEO Russell Robinson sees a similar potential in the program.

"The Negev is the new frontier for the 21st century. The Negev is languishing. Arad went from a middle-class city to a depressed one. Beersheba was losing its population until two years ago.

"You need to bring 500,000 people in the next 10 to 15 years. People need to take pride in their community and their city and this kind of project could do that.

"Recycling is very tangible - the visual of all the plastic bottles collected brings better understanding. And of course, if it works in Arad, it can be replicated elsewhere," he told the Post.

All across the South, Robinson pointed out, environmental projects are beginning to sprout up in the scattered communities. The JNF has invested significant sums in various projects and plans to continue to invest in the upcoming years.

"There's the Timna National Park which brings in 250,000-300,000 visitors. Kibbutz Lotan is an environmental showcase. There's a farmers market in Yahel and our idea is to create a bike path from Yahel to Eilat with kiosks at every stop," he said.

The JNF plans to invest $2m.-$3m. in that project.

Nitzana has also moved to adopt ecological principles with a recycling teaching center and other aspects.

In addition to the collaborative nature of its conception and inception, the Arad recycling program focuses on tailoring recycling to the needs of the city's individual communities. Instead of just placing cages and containers around the city and running a PR campaign, the planners have involved the public from the very first.

"We started off by holding a public hearing about the project. There were 750 seats and every one of them was filled," Ayala Guber-Avrahamy of the Eastern Negev Environmental Unit recalled. The unit services Arad, Tamar, and Yeroham.

Since the hearing, the public has been involved with every aspect of planning and execution. It's a bottom-up model, rather than top down, Guber-Avrahamy said.

"Our success is measured by our ability to involve the community, to get them to understand the value added," she said. A community-based process is considered more sustainable in the long run, according to community organizing professionals.

Moreover, since recycling is largely based on citizens' willingness to participate and separate their garbage at home, it's particularly amenable to the planners' strategy.

"We met with every community in order to understand what their needs were," said Svivotichnun's Hagit Naalei Yosef, whose firm was brought in to plan the program.

"Sometimes the community doesn't connect to the collection receptacles, and sometimes they are in the wrong place," she noted.

"When we talked to the community of people with disabilities, for example, they mentioned that the holes in the cages for plastic bottles were too high for them," Guber-Avrahamy said.

"They also suggested that pupils who have to fulfill their community service obligations could come by their houses on a regular basis to pick up all sorts of plastic to recycle," Naalei Yosef said.

The local haredi community is also involved.

"In the Gur Hassidic community, they recycle pregnancy clothes. At one of the local schools, we've started a uniform-shirt recycling program, where pupils bring the shirts they've outgrown for the younger ones," Guber-Avrahamy added.

To the best of her knowledge, Guber-Avrahamy said, a community involvement model like this hasn't been tried anywhere else in Israel to encourage recycling.

Looking to the future, Guber-Avrahamy said they were in talks with a plastic recycling company about recycling types of plastic other than plastic bottles.

"They work with a lot of factories, but they've never worked with a municipality before," she said, "We're thinking about having the sorting done by people with special needs."