Medis Technologies Announces Agreement With Israel Aircraft Industries
to Develop Fuel Cells to Power UAV Systems
Publication Date:24-October-2006
10:30 AM US Eastern Timezone
Source:FuelCellWorks
NEW YORK, NY -- Medis Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:MDTL) today announced
that it has entered into an agreement with Israel Aircraft Industries
Ltd. ("IAI"), to develop an 800 watt fuel cell to electrically power
Unmanned Air Vehicle systems (UAVs). IAI is Israel's largest
aerospace company and a world leader in developing and selling UAV
Systems.
The contract provides for two phases of activity.
The first phase, which covers a six-month period, provides for Medis to
develop a demonstration system which would pass functionality tests and
which can be demonstrated to be redesignable to achieve the weight (6
kilograms) goals of the final system.
The first phase is funded by IAI paying Medis $400,000. Upon the
successful completion of the first phase, the second phase would
require IAI to pay Medis approximately $1,500,000 to complete the
development and would have an 18-month schedule.
During the first phase of the contract and conditioned on minimum
purchase requirements thereafter, IAI will be granted exclusivity with
respect to large fuel cells for unmanned vehicles.
The contract with IAI will be carried out by Medis as the prime
contractor together with its strategic partner, Oy Hydrocell of
Finland, as the main subcontractor.
"We are particularly pleased with this purchase contract from IAI,"
said Robert K. Lifton, Chairman & CEO of Medis Technologies. "IAI is a
world leader in UAV Systems, having sold many and various such systems
to the Israel Defense Forces and to many other defense forces around
the world. Once development is completed, we expect that IAI will begin
ordering the new fuel cells from Medis for future UAV systems. We see
this also as a vote of confidence from a major shareholder of Medis.
This is an important milestone in our strategic goal to develop larger
fuel cells for military applications and emergency stand-by use for
homes and offices, as we recently announced. Now that we are starting
the commercialization of our 24/7 Power Pack product, Medis'
substantial research and development resources and infrastructure can
be applied to our next generation products and to the new larger fuel
cell systems which we envision developing."
Medis Technologies' primary focus is on direct liquid fuel cell
technology. Its business strategy is to sell its products to end users
through retail outlets, service providers and to the military and other
markets. Medis has also developed the CellScan with many potential
applications relating to disease diagnostics and chemo sensitivity.
Additionally, Medis' product pipeline includes other technologies, in
varying stages of development.
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