Israeli startup 'Ciconia' lands California helicopter safety deal to prevent midair collisions

California-based helicopter operator HeliStream is expected to equip its aircraft with collision avoidance systems developed by Israeli startup Ciconia, following a successful demonstration held in August 2026 in San Bernardino County, California, before firefighting representatives from across the United States.

The demonstration, conducted in the largest county in the US by area, tested the Israeli company's Collision and Conflict Avoidance System (CCAS) in scenarios involving helicopters and drones operating in congested airspace, particularly during firefighting and emergency response missions.

As airspace becomes increasingly crowded with helicopters, drones, and other unmanned aircraft operating in confined areas, aviation safety has become a growing concern for emergency services. Ciconia, based in Ness Ziona, has developed a decentralized collision avoidance system designed not only to identify potential threats but also to calculate safe evasive maneuvers for aircraft.

"Multiple aircraft, sometimes belonging to different organizations, operating together over a small, concentrated area is a recipe for disaster," said Col. (res.) Moshe Cohen, Ciconia's CEO and co-founder.

Cohen, a former Israeli Air Force attack helicopter pilot, assembled a team of aviation and technology specialists following his military service. The company's leadership includes Lt.-Col. (res.) Dr. Ilan Zohar, chief technology officer and an expert in drone control, and Lt.-Col. (res.) Gil Yanai, a former IAF test pilot and commander of its Flight Test Center who also serves as an El Al Boeing 787 captain and Ciconia's vice president of business development.

The team also includes Lt.-Col. (res.) Eran Bar-On, a former test pilot who heads algorithms and flight testing; Lt.-Col. (res.) Eran Nir, a former IAF Yasur helicopter captain, military technology specialist, and El Al Boeing 787 captain; operations manager and systems engineer Ronen Stofman, a former IAF flight test engineer; and software engineer Misha Poyarkov.

Among those who tested the system in Southern California was Andreas Moser, HeliStream's chief pilot, who has worked at the company for 34 years.

HeliStream operates a diverse helicopter fleet used for pilot training, utility operations, high-voltage power line infrastructure work, and aerial firefighting. These missions increasingly involve multiple aircraft sharing restricted airspace, including firefighting helicopters, reconnaissance aircraft, water-dropping planes, and observation drones.

Moser describes his extensive flying experience with humor, saying he pilots "everything from a small Robinson R22 to a Sikorsky Black Hawk."

More than 200 civilian Black Hawk helicopters operate in the United States, according to the figures cited in the original report, primarily supporting firefighting operations using specialized water tanks or buckets suspended beneath the aircraft. Israel's National Security Ministry has also pursued the acquisition of three such helicopters to reinforce the country's existing aerial firefighting fleet.

For Moser, who regularly operates in Southern California's crowded skies, collision avoidance presents a significant operational challenge.

"We fly in one of the busiest airspaces in the world," he said. "Helicopters operate under visual flight rules, and you are responsible for avoiding collisions yourself. In a single-pilot crew, that consumes an enormous amount of energy and attention from the pilot, who is supposed to be flying the helicopter and carrying out the mission."

According to Moser, the increasing presence of drones around wildfires has created an additional safety risk for emergency aircraft.

Some drones are operated by emergency agencies to map fires and assess conditions on the ground, while others are flown by unauthorized civilian operators seeking to observe the scene.

"All it takes is for someone to think they have seen a drone in the air, and all firefighting operations are stopped until its location is confirmed or it has left the area," Moser said.

"There have been fires, even in the Los Angeles area, where structures were threatened and flights were suspended because of drones. We have even had a collision between a firefighting aircraft and a drone in our area."

Moser warned that a similar collision involving a helicopter could have serious consequences.

"A collision like that with a Robinson or even a Black Hawk could bring you down or cause severe damage that immediately ends the flight," he said.

The danger was underscored on August 2, 2026, when two firefighting helicopters collided while battling wildfires near Athens, Greece. One helicopter crashed, killing its two crew members, while the crew of the other aircraft survived.

For decades, aviation has relied on technologies such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) to improve aircraft situational awareness and reduce the risk of midair collisions.

However, Moser said conventional traffic alert systems do not always provide helicopter pilots with the information needed during low-altitude missions involving numerous nearby aircraft.

"ADS-B is excellent, but all it tells me is that there is a target out there," he said. "It doesn't tell me whether that traffic is actually a threat to me, and it doesn't tell me where to fly if there is a collision risk."

"If I have four or five other aircraft around me, ADS-B doesn't tell me which one is the immediate problem."

The volume of alerts can itself become a distraction, particularly during training exercises or firefighting missions involving several helicopters operating close together.

"Sometimes, during training or in crowded airspace with seven or eight aircraft, we have no choice but to turn off the warning system," Moser said. "It keeps beeping nonstop, you can't distinguish one target from another, and you end up going back to the old method of looking outside with your own eyes."

He added that conventional ground-based traffic monitoring and air traffic control services can also be limited by radar coverage, particularly during wildfires in mountainous or remote regions.

Ciconia's system is designed to address these limitations through decentralized conflict detection and collision avoidance algorithms that do not depend on centralized air traffic management.

"The strength of Ciconia is that it doesn't rely on centralized management," Moser explained. "You can be in the middle of nowhere, and if another aircraft is equipped with ADS-B, the system will detect it."

More importantly, he said, the technology is designed to distinguish between nearby aircraft that pose no immediate danger and those whose flight paths could result in a collision.

"Ciconia tells you: 'You have all these targets around you, but none of them matters except this one, because it is climbing toward you, approaching head-on, or descending in your direction.'"

Unlike systems that primarily provide traffic information or alerts, Ciconia's CCAS is designed to generate a specific evasive maneuver while taking surrounding aircraft into account.

"Many systems can tell you there is a problem, but they also identify collision risks when there is no real danger," Moser said.

"Identifying a problem isn't difficult. Identifying only the dangerous situations, identifying all of them, and generating a practical, safe solution is the real challenge."

"Ciconia doesn't just provide a warning. It provides a maneuvering solution and makes sure that avoiding one collision doesn't put you in danger of another."

During the August demonstration, Moser tested the technology in flight scenarios simulating aerial firefighting and congested helicopter operations.

"In the test, the system exceeded all my expectations," he said.

"There was one case where, because of a misunderstanding over the radio, one of the aircraft turned in a direction it wasn't supposed to. The system immediately detected the change, recalculated the solution, and presented us with a safer route."

"The speed with which it reacted to changes in proximity and flight direction was simply impressive."

Gil Yanai, Ciconia's chief test pilot, said the demonstration included police aviation and firefighting scenarios in which helicopters and drones operated together. The team also recreated a scenario resembling the fatal helicopter collision in Greece.

"The system allowed the pilots to operate freely," Yanai said. "As long as the airspace was safe, they continued working normally. The moment a real threat emerged, the system immediately displayed the required evasive maneuver."

The demonstration also included a large drone supplied by the San Bernardino County Fire Department, equipped with a CCAS unit, while another unit was installed on the Robinson helicopter flown by Moser.

"We demonstrated that helicopters and drones can operate safely together when CCAS ensures that they do not approach each other dangerously," Yanai said.

"When a collision threat develops, CCAS alerts the drone operator. If necessary, the system then takes control of the drone and diverts it. If the situation remains dangerous, CCAS provides flight instructions to the helicopter pilot."

The instructions are delivered through the aircraft's intercom system and displayed on a cockpit screen, allowing pilots to respond without diverting excessive attention from their primary mission.

The need for improved collision avoidance technology has become increasingly apparent following fatal aerial firefighting accidents in recent years.

Moser pointed to a previous collision in the United States involving a Sikorsky Skycrane heavy helicopter and a Bell 407, which killed the crew members aboard the smaller aircraft, as well as the August accident in Greece.

"These pilots are excellent pilots. They are good people who want to do their jobs and return home safely," he said.

"So why does this happen? It happens because of overload."

According to Moser, helicopter crews conducting firefighting missions must simultaneously manage smoke, strong winds, turbulence, water drops, and the movements of nearby aircraft.

"The human brain becomes so occupied with fighting the fire, dealing with smoke, wind, and turbulence, that you become accustomed to other aircraft being close to you, and your brain stops recognizing them as a threat," he explained.

He compared the phenomenon to helicopter accidents involving power lines, where pilots may be aware of an obstacle but fail to react in time because of excessive workload.

"When you go out to fight a fire, your primary mission should be fighting the fire," Moser said. "But once avoiding collisions becomes your main concern instead of putting out the fire, you become ineffective."

Following the successful California demonstration, HeliStream is expected to equip its aircraft with Ciconia's CCAS technology, although the companies have not disclosed a purchase value, number of systems, or delivery schedule.

Moser said that as firefighting operations become increasingly complex, the risk of midair collisions remains his greatest concern, surpassing even mechanical or engine failures.

"I stand behind this 100%," he said. "My biggest concern is not an engine failure or a complex mechanical malfunction."

"My number one concern, both now and in the future, as there are more fires and more helicopters and drones in the air, is coming dangerously close to another aircraft."

"That is the greatest threat. Ciconia's CCAS system offers a real solution to a critical problem at an affordable price. We at HeliStream are eagerly awaiting it."