Heron TP drone: Bundeswehr enhances intelligence and surveillance capabilities

By Arie Egozi

The German Air Force's Heron TP UAV is operational and will enhance the country's defence by using a long list of Israeli-made systems. The Israeli-made UAV was originally meant for German overseas operations but will now be used to protect the country.

 

In 2016, the Germans leased five Heron TP UAVs and another two for training in a deal valued at around 1 billion euros. Later, the deal was expanded. After a long debate, the German parliament approved equipping the UAVs with dedicated weapon systems.

The war in Ukraine made Germany reconsider its defence needs. Last year, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) signed what is defined as a “pivotal agreement” with Germany. The agreement deals with the additional systems that are carried by the Heron TP strategic UAV.

The agreement encompasses not only the deployment of advanced UAV technology but also includes comprehensive updates and technological enhancements to the ground array of the systems, addressing the ever-evolving challenges in the defence sector.

 

 

Israeli sources said that the deal will enable equipping the strategic UAVs with different weapon systems, additional payloads, and advanced systems designed to distribute the data collected by the UAV to many “clients.”

The IAI Heron TP is a multi-role, advanced, long-range Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV 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 local and international customers’ needs and to perform a variety of strategic missions, including intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, using various payloads, with a high level of reliability.

The Heron TP has a maximum takeoff weight of 5,670 kg. It can carry a payload of up to 2,700 kg. This UAV has a wingspan of 26 meters and a 30-hour endurance. Sources here said that the added capabilities for the German Heron TP will include different versions of the IAI Mission Operation and Intelligence Center (MOIC).

Centralized command and control are essential when engaged in UAV missions to manage the huge amounts of data collected from observation, radar, COMINT, and ELINT. IAI’s state-of-the-art Mission Operation and Intelligence Center (MOIC) is an all-in-one headquarters that meets these needs. According to the Israeli company, MOIC’s modular layout, which includes mission operational cells, a commander cell, an exploitation center, a C2 cell, a full trainer, a SATCOM facility, a support facility, and a data storage center, provides the ability to adjust the control center according to specific operational needs.

 

 

By placing all pilots, mission operators, ISR analysts, and decision-makers at a single, central location, the MOIC provides a common operational picture and enables integrated management of multiple UAV platforms and payloads, or UAV fleet and manned platforms. In doing so, it maximizes the efficiency of mission flow and improves real-time operation and coordination of the fleet while also improving safety and protecting ground assets.

The MOIC also conserves manpower and resources that would otherwise be required to process huge quantities of data from multiple offline and online sensors, processing it in real-time, and archiving all raw and processed information for future analysis.

 

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