Elbit Systems announces Hermes 900 and 450 contract
Elbit Systems has announced that it has been awarded a contract to supply an unnamed Latin American customer with a mixed fleet of Hermes 900 and Hermes 450 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The contract, valued at many tens of millions of dollars, was announced 5 August 2012.
According to the company, the contract will be performed over the next two years, and also includes the contract includes Universal Ground Control Stations (UGCS) and a variety of payloads and capabilities. The Electro-Optics Elop Division's advanced payloads systems, the Elisra Division's intelligence COMINT systems, SAR/MPR multi mode radar and additional sensors, were all named in the contract.
The Hermes 450 is the back bone of the IDF's operational UAS activity, and has been used extensively in defense forces worldwide, including in active war zones, and have accumulated over 300,000 operational flight hours. The Hermes 900 UAS builds on the operational experience accumulated by the Hermes 450, and offers a range of enhanced capabilities, from higher flight altitude (30,000 ft) to longer endurance and heavier weight payloads. The system’s design enables it to carry a variety of payloads in various shapes and sizes for quick ‘conversion’ between payload configurations.
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