IAI Harop

The IAI Harop (or IAI Harpy 2) is an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) developed by the MBT division of Israel Aerospace Industries. Rather than holding a separate high-explosive warhead, the drone itself is the main munition. This SEAD-optimised UCAV is designed to loiter the battlefield and attack targets by self-destructing into them.

Overview

The IAI Harop is a larger version of the IAI Harpy and is launched from ground- or sea-based canisters, but can be adapted for air-launch. Unlike the fully autonomous Harpy, however, the Harop is controlled in flight by a remote operator. The Harop features two guidance modes: it can either home in on radio emissions by itself with its anti-radar homing system, or the operator can select static or moving targets detected by the aircraft's electro-optical sensor. This latter mode allows the Harop to attack radars that are presently shut down and therefore not providing emissions for the aircraft to automatically home in on.

IAI is developing a smaller version of the Harop for smaller applications, which it will unveil in 2015. The smaller Harop would be one-fifth the size and have a lighter 3–4 kg (6.6–8.8 lb) warhead. It will be cheaper and have a shorter endurance of 2–3 hours to be used tactically against time-critical targets or ones that hide and re-appear.

Iaido

Iaido (居合道, Iaidō), abbreviated with iai (居合), is a modern Japanese martial art/sport.

Iaido is associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard or saya, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard. While beginning practitioners of iaido may start learning with a wooden sword (bokken) depending on the teaching style of a particular instructor, most of the practitioners use the blunt edged sword, called iaitō. Few, more experienced, iaido practitioners use a sharp edged sword (shinken).

Practitioners of iaido are often referred to as iaidoka.

Origins of the name

The term 'iaido' appear in 1932 and consists of the kanji characters 居 (i), 合 (ai), and 道 (dō). The origin of the first two characters, iai (居合), is believed to come from saying Tsune ni ite, kyū ni awasu (常に居て、急に合わす), that can be roughly translated as “being constantly (prepared), match/meet (the opposition) immediately”. Thus the primary emphasis in 'iai' is on the psychological state of being present (居). The secondary emphasis is on drawing the sword and responding to the sudden attack as quickly as possible (合).

5-IAI

5-Iodo-2-aminoindane (5-IAI) is a drug which acts as a releasing agent of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. It was developed in the 1990s by a team led by David E. Nichols at Purdue University. 5-IAI fully substitutes for MDMA in rodents and is a putative entactogen in humans. Unlike related aminoindane derivatives like MDAI and MMAI, 5-IAI causes some serotonergic neurotoxicity in rats, but is substantially less toxic than its corresponding amphetamine homologue pIA, with the damage observed barely reaching statistical significance.

See also

References

IAI

IAI is an acronym for: