Two of the leased UAVs remain at the Israeli Air Force base. According to Israeli sources, the armed UAVs will provide support for the extensive UAV attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza.
The Heron TP is the largest UAV developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). This strategic UAV was modified according to the needs and requirements of the German Ministry of Defense. It is the result of a joint program led by the UAV Executive Office in the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) of the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMoD), Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Airbus DS Airborne Solutions, an Airbus Group company.
The agreement between the respective ministries was signed in June 2018 and outlines the leasing of a number of UAVs, as well as maintenance and training services. Consequently, German Air Force personnel are training alongside their Israeli counterparts at an IAF base in central Israel.
The contract covers the lease of seven Heron TP UAVs, which are intended to support German operations in Africa and Asia. The UAVs have been leased for a period of nine years and are capable of carrying “unique air-to-ground missiles,” according to German sources. The German Defense Ministry states that these weapons have the capability to alter their trajectory towards the target to avoid civilian harm. The arming of the MALE UAV was at the heart of internal debate in Germany before the deal was approved. German sources have indicated that during negotiations, “several options to use Israeli-developed weapons have been evaluated.”
The IAI Heron TP is a multi-role, advanced, long-range Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) designed for strategic missions. It is equipped with automatic taxi-takeoff and landing systems (ATOL), satellite communication (SATCOM) for extended range, fully redundant avionics, and more.
The Heron TP was designed as a multi-mission platform to address the needs of local and international customers, capable of performing a variety of strategic missions including intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance using various payloads, all with a high level of reliability.
The Heron TP is 14 meters long, has a wing span of 26 meters, and has a maximum takeoff weight of 5670 kg. It can carry a payload weighing up to 2700 kg, with a maximum ceiling of 45,000 feet, a maximum speed of 220 knots, and an endurance of 30 hours.”
