The Israeli UAV industry – The Hermes 900
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עברית (Hebrew)
The fourth article in the series on the Israeli UAV Industry.
By ARIE EGOZI
Elbit Systems, has been very active mainly in upgrading existing systems.
The Hermes-900 medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAS is now offered with a large variety of sensor derived from Elbit’s key technologies that have been implemented so far on manned aircraft and ground systems.
The Israeli company said that the aerodynamic efficiency of the Hermes 900 enables frequent changes in flight profiles, enabling visual identification of vessels at sea in addition to the ISAR capability provided by the radar. Satellite communication enables it to fly to mission areas at extended ranges as far as 1000 nautical miles from shore.
Hermes 900, already in service with the Israeli Air Force and additional world leading armed forces, offers longer endurance, flight altitude of 30,000 ft. and a large payload capacity, suitable for carrying a wide range of payloads as well as capabilities to operate in adverse weather. The UAS is highly autonomous, enabling automatic takeoff and landing and includes advanced avionics and electronic systems. The system allows for joint flight missions with the Hermes 450, controlled and operated from the same universal ground control station, transmitting the gathered imagery, while using various communications systems.
But in September Elbit won a very “Sweet” success when the Hermes -900 was selected by the Swiss armed forces. The Hermes-900 that will be supplied to the Swiss will be powered by a heavy fuel engine, which was selected to allow the UAS to perform a high rate of climb after takeoff because the country’s mountainous terrain.
