New Family Member Offers Enhanced Standoff Capability
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will unveil the HERON Mk II Multi Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS at the upcoming Singapore Airshow next month, the company announced on 29 January.
The Mk II is an updated model of the HERON, already used by the Israeli Air Force and operational with over 20 other organisations worldwide. Using the most advanced technologies developed by IAI to date, the HERON Mk II is a strategic, versatile aircraft capable of carrying diverse payloads.
As a member of the HERON family, the Mk II has a significant appeal to existing HERON users, functioning as it does under the same operational concepts, based on IAI’s extensive knowledge and experience gained over almost 50 years of operation, more than 1,800,000 cumulative flight hours and over 50 operational customers.
Fitted with a Rotax 915 iS engine, the HERON Mk II can reach an altitude of 35,000ft, a maximum speed of 140kts and has an endurance of 45 consecutive hours. Due to improved manufacturing technologies, the HERON Mk II has a wider, stronger body structure, allowing for quick, easy maintenance without adding to its weight. It enables new configurations, has long-range observation sensors and radars, and can carry a wide range of additional payloads, for electronic and communications intelligence (ELINT and COMINT), for example. The standout feature of the HERON Mk II is its standoff capability, gathering intelligence from tens of kilometres away without crossing borders, thanks to its ability to carry larger, improved sensors. It also features an improved engine and avionics.
Moshe Levy, IAI Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Military Aircraft Group said “The HERON Mk II allows for considerable expansion of the operational package, with an emphasis on standoff intelligence collection. The new member of the HERON family, already considered one of the prime strategic UAVs in the world, allows us to expand our range of operational solutions we offer our customers.”
