Universal Avionics CEO Paul DeHerrera (left) shakes hands with Dror Yahav (right), who will take over as chief executive for the Elbit Systems subsidiary April 10, 2019. Photo: Universal Avionics.
Dror Yahav will take over as the chief executive for Universal Avionics, the Elbit Systems subsidiary announced on the first day of Heli Expo 2019.
Yahav, who currently serves as vice president of commercial aviation for Elbit Systems, will start the new role next month. He will take over for Paul DeHerrera, who will retire from Universal Avionics after 25 years with the company.
“It has been an honor to serve and lead UA over the years and to witness it grow and prosper. Merging into Elbit Systems was key to UA’s future growth, and I was proud to lead that strategic move and to work to shore it up since the closing last year,” DeHerrera said.
Elbit Systems completed its acquisition of Universal in April 2018, making the Arizona-based avionics manufacturer a wholly-owned subsidiary while keeping the Universal name in place. Since then, the two companies have been focused on synchronizing the functionality of Universal’s head-down displays with an array of Elbit’s innovative head-up display (HUD) technology.
At the National Business Aviation Association’s 2018 conference and exhibition, the two companies unveiled one of their first products as a combined entity, a wearable head-up display (HUD) with combined vision that lets pilots control their aircraft’s flight management system (FMS) with their eyes. Universal also unveiled a new helicopter enhanced vision system on the first day of Heli Expo 2019.
Yahav will officially take over as CEO of Universal Avionics April 10, 2019.