Shavit 

SIGINT version developed by US-Israeli consortium including; Bedek Aviation (equipment installation); Elta Systems (prime contractor and EL/I-3001 AISIS mission architecture); Gulfstream Aerospace (airframe manufacture/modification); and Lockheed Martin (airframe modification, including development of ventral fairing). Equipped with Elta Systems EL/I-3001 Airborne Integrated SIGINT System, capable of both communications (20 to 1,200 MHz) and electronic (0.5 to 18 GHz) (COMINT/ELINT) functions. Internal features include: two cockpit crew; provision for up to 12 mission crew (divided between forward Command and Control (C2) 'war room' and aft equipment operator's workspace); onboard liquid equipment cooling system; communications suite including microwave datalink, satcom and HF/VHF/UHF; and flight/mission crew intercommunications system. 

Externally identified by 'canoe' fairing beneath forward fuselage; pairs of circular, overwing cabin windows on both sides of fuselage; ventral 'teardrop' fairing (possibly with direction-finding antenna) aft of wing trailing-edges; additional ventral fin at rear; equipment fairings both sides of platform's centre-section; fin-top line-of-sight datalink/SATCOM antenna housing; apparent interferometric COMINT blade array beneath the aircraft's centre section; and communications aerial provision including at least three swept blades and two horizontal dipoles. Operating parameters include cruising altitude of 15,240 m (50,000 ft) and typical mission duration of 10 hours. 

Israeli Ministry of Defence programme initiated in December 2001 for three Shavits, all late production Gulfstream Vs. Airframes c/n 676, 679 and 684 received structural modifications by Gulfstream in US. First aircraft flew as such 26 March 2005. First delivery was N679GA (c/n 679), collected by crew from 122 'Nachshon' (Pioneer) Squadron at Lod air base and ferried to Israel between 23 and 26 May 2005; formal acceptance 27 June 2005; followed by local installation of equipment and re-numbering as '679'. Delivery of '684' followed in February 2006 and '676' in August 2006. 

Eitam 

Commercially marketed as CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning). Equipped with Elta Systems EL/W-2085 mission suite including phased array AEW radar; integrated IFF subsystem; electronic support (ES)/electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) subsystems; and at least six operator stations. 

Externally characterised by forward-facing ES system antenna believed in fairing above nose radome (also for weather radar); array of nine dorsal blade antennas; port and starboard conformal antenna housings for EL/W-2085 on sides of forward fuselage; aft-facing radome (EL/W-2085 rear hemisphere array) on tailcone; ventral (rear fuselage) and fin-top datalink/satellite communications system antenna fairings; fin-top deployable wire aerial; three ventral blade aerials; ES/ELINT system antenna pods beneath both wingtips; provision for underwing stores pylons; and provision for "advanced self-protection systems". 

Mission modifications include satellite communications/data link; Gulfstream Aerospace-developed, low-drag, liquid cooling system that provides an 'optimum' environment for mission avionics; two additional (when compared with standard G550) electrical power generators mounted each side with combined output of 240 kVA; increased max zero-fuel weight facilitated by mid-wing ejectors that pump fuel from inboard to outboard wing fuel cells to reduce wing loading at the fuselage. 

On 20 August 2003, Israel ordered four (plus two options) Gulfstream G550s for USD473 million. Airframes c/n 5014, 5037, 5044 and 5069 modified by Lockheed Martin with appropriate structural changes before installation of mission avionics in Israel. First aircraft retained in US; initial delivery was N637GA (c/n 5037), ferried to Israel by 122 Squadron between 18 and 19 September 2006, becoming '537'. Remainder followed in March (first aircraft; N914GA), May (N944GA) and July (N969GA) 2007, by which timeoption for two had been taken up, requiring completion of bare airframes in December 2007 and April 2008. Singapore, meanwhile, had been named as customer for four CAEW Gulfstreams and in October 2007 it became known that two of these (believed N914GA and N944GA) were included in the aircraft delivered to Israel and that the balance were those in the option. Thus, Singapore four aircraft and Israel two. 

MARS2 

Promotion began in February 2006 of Israel's third Gulfstream-based special missions aircraft in form of the EL/I-3150 Multimission Airborne Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (MARS2). Envisaged as "fast-deployment, all-in-one task force" capable of ground surveillance/early warning, conflict situation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and C3 for military and paramilitary agencies. Sensor suite would include synthetic aperture and ground moving target indication radars (SAR/GMTI), electro-optic (EO) and infra-red (IR) imaging sensors and ELINT/radar-band ESM and COMINT/communications-band ES/direction-finding subsystems. Has common operator station hardware, application-specific software, a modular design, a flexible mission driven configuration and flight/mission crew of up to 10: two pilots, and mission crew of one to three C3, one to three imagery intelligence and one or two SIGINT operators. 

External features include ventral 'canoe' fairing which appears to house forward-looking and lateral antennas for SAR and GMTI radars; ventral 'dustbin' fairing (associated either with EO/IR payload or SIGINT DF); fore and aft box fairings each side forward fuselage and tail cone; dorsal and ventral blade antenna groups and, possibly, chaff/IR decoy flare dispensers in ventral stabilising fin. 

Tanker 

Formulation of an aerial refuelling tanker was under way in late 2006 in a joint project with Israel Aerospace Industries.