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Abu Dhabi is negotiating an commercial deal with Israel that would grant the Arabian emirate access to the Israeli-built Eros B satellite and its high-resolution imagery, in addition to services it already receives from its precursor, the Eros A.

The prospective deal follows an unpublicized 2006 contract between Abu Dhabi and ImageSat International, owners and operators of the Eros A and B, which are essentially commercial knock-offs of Israel's Ofeq spycraft.

For Israel, the deal represents the latest step in forging links with a key moderate Arab state which, like Israel, worries about the threat from Iran. Much of the UAE's conventional military investment - along with billions of dollars spent by other Gulf Cooperation Council states - is aimed at deterring Iran.

Both Eros satellites, as well as the Ofeq series, are built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest defense firm with a controlling interest in Tel Aviv-based ImageSat. The prospective deal is considered important to both parties, given the decade-old Eros A satellite is expected to run out of fuel around 2010.

ImageSat is incorporated in the Dutch Antilles, includes many American shareholders and investors, and deals exclusively with commercial imagery sales and services from the dual-use satellites on the world market.

The firm's relative advantage over similar and even more capable commercial services is its ability to offer discreet, autonomous tasking of the satellite in space, without the regulatory or time-lapsed "shutter controls" imposed on U.S. and European providers.

Under ImageSat's Satellite Operating Partner (SOP) program, customers can select areas of interest to be photographed and directly downlink captured imagery, effectively owning the satellite and its 2,500-kilometer radius of coverage - the so-called footprint - around their ground station.

Sources estimated the prospective deal at less than $20 million per year, a sum they acknowledge is small yet significant, considering that Israel and Abu Dhabi do not have diplomatic relations.

Jerusalem has operated an informal and extremely discreet interest office in Abu Dhabi for several years, sources said, but the chances of developing more open relations are slim to nil, given regional outrage over Israel's recent military incursion in the Gaza Strip.

In protest of Israel's three-week Cast Lead operation in Gaza, Qatar - a partner with the UAE in the Gulf Cooperation Council - ordered Israel to shut down its 10-year-old commercial interest office in the region.

And just last week, Dubai - one of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE - denied a visa to Israel's top female tennis star, who was invited by the international Women's Tennis Association to participate in a championship event in Dubai.

"Even in the best of times, that program has been hush-hush," one space industry insider said. "So obviously now, after Gaza, when even a harmless tennis match becomes super-sensitive, nobody's going to talk about it."

A U.S.-based ImageSat investor suggested that talk of the program now, after years of secrecy and at such a critical juncture in negotiations, stemmed from "conflicting interests seeking to torpedo" the deal.

ImageSat President Shimon Eckhaus declined all comment on the matter, other than to warn that any information coming out of Israel would be subject to strict censorship. Similarly, Israeli officials refused Defense News requests for clarification.

And while Israeli officials declined all comment on the matter, U.S. industry sources and experts said the prospective deal furthered Washington's agenda.

U.S. policy in the region has sought to strengthen a coalition of moderate Arab states against an Iran that many across the region find threatening, whether by the country's aggressive nuclear program, conventional military build-up, its maiden satellite launch Feb. 2, and its potentially destabilizing Islamist proxy movements. In 2007, Washington approved $30 billion in arms deals to improve the capabilities of moderate Gulf states.

In recent years, the UAE has procured imagery and services from multiple foreign-made satellites, including the U.S. Ikonos, Indian IRS spacecraft and the South Korean Kompsat. The UAE Space Reconnaissance Center (SRC) and its attendant Universal Ground Station, based in Abu Dhabi, is equipped not only to receive various data streams and process geospatial information, but to direct certain satellites directly from the in-country home base.

"The [Universal Ground Station] has the ability to task satellite systems and collect imagery data in near real time. It is one of the very few outside the USA and Europe that can actually task certain satellites directly from Abu Dhabi," said Col. Mahash Saeed Al Hameli of UAE's SRC, in a 2005 interview with GIM International, a monthly magazine for the global geomatics industry. Mahash said the station was equipped to receive black and white as well as multispectral imagery over a 5,000-kilometer radius, with resolutions that could capture objects as small as 80 centimeters across.

According to ImageSat's Web site, the Eros A, launched in 2000, has a standard resolution of 1.8 meters, and is designed with an operational lifespan of 10 years. The Eros B, launched in 2006, features a much higher-resolution imaging camera that can capture objects measuring 70 to 80 centimeters across. It, too, is designed with a 10-year operational lifespan. ■

Washington-based Antonie Boessenkool and Vago Muradian reported this story; Barbara Opall-Rome contributed from Tel Aviv.

Published: 23 February 2009
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3958937

RobbyG wrote:Both Eros satellites, as well as the Ofeq series, are built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest defense firm with a controlling interest in Tel Aviv-based ImageSat. The prospective deal is considered important to both parties, given the decade-old Eros A satellite is expected to run out of fuel around 2010.
ImageSat is incorporated in the Dutch Antilles, includes many American shareholders and investors, and deals exclusively with commercial imagery sales and services from the dual-use satellites on the world market.
According to ImageSat's Web site, the Eros A, launched in 2000, has a standard resolution of 1.8 meters, and is designed with an operational lifespan of 10 years. The Eros B, launched in 2006, features a much higher-resolution imaging camera that can capture objects measuring 70 to 80 centimeters across. It, too, is designed with a 10-year operational lifespan. ■

Interesting. From what I gather the deal is stalled post Operation Cast Lead. What it does effectively point out is that George Bush's stratgy of alienating Iran is actually gaining momentum. The only difference is that it's being done under the gentle guise of Mr Obama. Talk about perceptions.
The author also hints at the Eros B satellite running out of fuel in 2010, with 4 years still to go on it's life span.
So the commercial imagry sateliite is for military purposes or for other strategic work, like oil exploration and all? Any hints?

Misery Called Life wrote:

RobbyG wrote:Both Eros satellites, as well as the Ofeq series, are built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest defense firm with a controlling interest in Tel Aviv-based ImageSat. The prospective deal is considered important to both parties, given the decade-old Eros A satellite is expected to run out of fuel around 2010.
ImageSat is incorporated in the Dutch Antilles, includes many American shareholders and investors, and deals exclusively with commercial imagery sales and services from the dual-use satellites on the world market.
According to ImageSat's Web site, the Eros A, launched in 2000, has a standard resolution of 1.8 meters, and is designed with an operational lifespan of 10 years. The Eros B, launched in 2006, features a much higher-resolution imaging camera that can capture objects measuring 70 to 80 centimeters across. It, too, is designed with a 10-year operational lifespan. ■

Interesting. From what I gather the deal is stalled post Operation Cast Lead. What it does effectively point out is that George Bush's stratgy of alienating Iran is actually gaining momentum. The only difference is that it's being done under the gentle guise of Mr Obama. Talk about perceptions.
The author also hints at the Eros B satellite running out of fuel in 2010, with 4 years still to go on it's life span.
So the commercial imagry sateliite is for military purposes or for other strategic work, like oil exploration and all? Any hints?

I have a hint for you:

Watch this video of the construction of the Palm at 1m:30s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlfwumKgKko&NR=1

Then you have an idea of the coverage and dependancy both nations have on eachother and their enemy... (four letters)

Misery Called Life wrote:

RobbyG wrote:Both Eros satellites, as well as the Ofeq series, are built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest defense firm with a controlling interest in Tel Aviv-based ImageSat. The prospective deal is considered important to both parties, given the decade-old Eros A satellite is expected to run out of fuel around 2010.
ImageSat is incorporated in the Dutch Antilles, includes many American shareholders and investors, and deals exclusively with commercial imagery sales and services from the dual-use satellites on the world market.
According to ImageSat's Web site, the Eros A, launched in 2000, has a standard resolution of 1.8 meters, and is designed with an operational lifespan of 10 years. The Eros B, launched in 2006, features a much higher-resolution imaging camera that can capture objects measuring 70 to 80 centimeters across. It, too, is designed with a 10-year operational lifespan. ■

Interesting. From what I gather the deal is stalled post Operation Cast Lead. What it does effectively point out is that George Bush's stratgy of alienating Iran is actually gaining momentum. The only difference is that it's being done under the gentle guise of Mr Obama. Talk about perceptions.The author also hints at the Eros B satellite running out of fuel in 2010, with 4 years still to go on it's life span.
So the commercial imagry sateliite is for military purposes or for other strategic work, like oil exploration and all? Any hints?

"Talk about perceptions."??


I hope you're referring to Obama not Bush!!!

Tom Jones wrote:"Talk about perceptions."??


I hope you're referring to Obama not Bush!!!

The excessive negative perceptions related to Bush have benefited Obama big time!
This in my opinion is especially true in the international community.

Misery Called Life wrote:

Tom Jones wrote:"Talk about perceptions."??


I hope you're referring to Obama not Bush!!!

The excessive negative perceptions related to Bush have benefited Obama big time!
This in my opinion is especially true in the international community.

Anyone holding the office of President of the US would benefit from the Bush legacy/perceptions.

Funny thing is that we heard more out of Cheney's mouth in eight days then we did when he was in office for 8 years and Bush has faded into the background. The puppet master is finally showing his face and defending his actions.