Elbit Hermes 450

Hermes 450
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Hermes 450 of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Role	Unmanned aerial vehicle
National origin	Israel
Manufacturer	Elbit Systems
Designer	Silver Arrow (Elbit Systems)
Introduction	1998
Status	Active
Primary user	Israeli Air Force
Unit cost	$2M
Variants	Watchkeeper WK450 Elbit Hermes 900

The Elbit Systems Hermes 450 is an Israeli medium size multi-payload unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical long endurance missions. It has an endurance of over 20 hours, with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay.

Operators

File:Hermes-450 Operators.svg

Map of Hermes 450 operators

File:Hermes 450 take off.jpg

A Hermes 450 taking off

Hermes 450 of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Azerbaijan

• 10 Hermes 450 UAVs were purchased in 2008. On September 12, 2011, a UAV was reportedly shot down by the NKDA over the airspace of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Preliminary investigations carried out by the NKDA have determined the model to be a Hermes 450 type.

Botswana

Brazil

• The Brazilian Air Force has, since December 2009 a unit under lease for 1 year of testing and evaluations in conjunction with the Brazilian Army and Brazilian Navy; there are plans to buy two more. The Brazilian Air Force operated two in 2011, with two more delivered in February 2013.

Colombia

• In August 2012, Elbit won a multi-million-dollar contract to supply a mixed fleet of Hermes 900 and 450 unmanned air systems to Colombia. In July 2013, the Colombian Air Force confirmed they have one Hermes 450 on order, to be accepted in the coming months.

Croatia

• Two Hermes 450 were ordered by the Croatian military along with two smaller Skylark UAVs in late 2006, delivered in late 2007.

Cyprus

• The Cyprus Air Forces operating one UAV Squadron (2 groups of UAVs). Reported to be procured no later than 2009.

Georgia

• Hermes 450 have also been used by Georgia for reconnaissance over its disputed Abkhazia territory, where some were shot down.

Macedonia

• Ministry of Internal Affairs use Hermes 450 for reconnaissance missions

Mexico

• The Mexican Air Force acquired the Hermes 450 system in 2009.

Singapore

• The Singapore Ministry of Defence announced that the Republic of Singapore Air Force is adding the Hermes 450 to its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle fleet, as part of the Air Force's new UAV command.

Israel

• The Israeli Air Force, which operates a Hermes 450 squadron out of Palmachim Airbase south of Tel Aviv, has adapted the Hermes 450 for use as an assault UAV, reportedly equipping it with two Hellfire missiles or, according to various sources, two Rafael-made missiles. According to Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and independent reports, the Israeli assault UAV has seen extensive service in the Gaza Strip and was used intensively in the Second Lebanon War as well as in the 2009 Sudan air raids. Israel has not denied this capability, but to date, its policy has been not to officially confirm it either.

In August 2014 Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps announced it had shot down an Israeli Hermes 450, which utilized radar-absorbent materials, heading toward the Natanz nuclear facility; releasing video of the wreckage.

United States

• Hermes 450s are operated by the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Test and Evaluation Program at the Naval Air Station Fallon, and two Hermes 450s were tested by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2004.

Former operators

United Kingdom

• The H450 was operated by the 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery of the British Army on military operations in Afghanistan, supplied under a leasing contract starting July 2007 from a Thales/Elbit consortium. Eight H450s operated by the British crashed in Afghanistan. The British version was the only Hermes to use laser gyroscopes in its inertial navigation system. It did not have the option for wing mounted armament. The Hermes 450 is the basis of the British Army's Watchkeeper WK450, development of which started in July 2005 in conjunction with Thales. In September 2013, the Hermes 450 reached 70,000 flight hours supporting British troops in Afghanistan, the equivalent of 8 years of non-stop flying. The British had flown the Hermes 450 more than any other country in Afghanistan. As of January 2014, British Hermes 450 air vehicles flew over 86,000 hours over Iraq and Afghanistan. Up to nine aircraft operated from Camp Bastion and conducted five flights per day, accumulating a combined 70 hours of surveillance coverage. When the Watchkeeper WK450 entered service in Afghanistan in mid-September 2014 and the ground-based radar coverage at Bastion was switched off, the British Army stopped using the interim leased Hermes 450.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 0
• Capacity: 150 kg
• Length: 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
• Wingspan: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)
• Gross weight: 450 kg (992 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × UAV Engines Limited R802/902(W) Wankel engine, 39 kW (52 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 176 km/h (109 mph; 95 kn)
• Cruising speed: 130 km/h (81 mph; 70 kn)
• Range: 300 km (186 mi; 162 nmi)
• Endurance: 20 hours (450LE - 30 hours)
• Service ceiling: 5,486 m (18,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 4.6 m/s (900 ft/min)

External links

• Hermes 450 Brochure, Elbit Systems
• Hermes 450 Tactical UAV System, Defense Update
• Hermes 450, Israeli-weapons.com
• Border Patrol to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles, USA Today, May 17, 2004
• Israel sets combat drones against missile launchers in Gaza, World Tribune, 8 May 2007
• Israel Starts Reexamining Military Missions and Technology, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 20 Aug 2006
• Report of UNOMIG on the incident of 20 April involving the downing of a Georgian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle over the Zone of Conflict, UNOMIG, 2008-05-26