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Drawing on decades of experience in the design and manufacture of fighter, transport and business aircraft, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has designed the ultimate surveillance, reconnaissance and reconnaissance drone, the Heron, with superior aerodynamic design.
The UAS Heron was designed to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) tasks over a large area and in all weather conditions, including SIGINT (signals intelligence), ELINT (electronic intelligence) and COMINT (communications intelligence) data collection, electro-optical day and night photography and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imaging. Other tasks include communications relay and ground force support missions. To meet these requirements, the aircraft platform was optimized using IAI’s ten years of experience and know-how in the design and production of fighter aircraft, commercial aircraft and UAS.
The aerodynamic design of the Heron includes an advanced slotted wing developed by IAI. This design ensures excellent gliding, which reduces overall fuel consumption. In addition, the high maximum lift coefficient and large thickness offer a large internal volume, so the wing is used as a “wet wing” for carrying fuel. The hull is thus fully available for the installation of sensors. The “wet wing” design also minimizes center-of-gravity problems that occur as fuel drops in flight, limiting the size of the payload due to the disruption of weight-balance relationships. The Heron has variable airfoil wings and mission-adaptive mid-/high-altitude wings, resulting in excellent aerodynamic performance and a high lift coefficient throughout the flight envelope.
The high wing and high tail configuration provide an unobstructed 360° view for fuselage sensors. In addition, IAI’s traditional twin booms and rear-engine design offer the highest mission flexibility and growth potential for installation of additional systems such as COMINT antennas that require large standoff distances on board the aircraft to ensure high accuracy. The main retractable landing gear is located in the rear outriggers, which allows to create a clean hull optimally configured for the installation of multiple sensors. The 85-kilowatt (115-horsepower) Rotax 914 four-cylinder, turbocharged, four-stroke, air-cooled, civil aviation-certified engine provides a high power-to-weight ratio and reliability that supports the Heron’s flight and performance needs up to maximum altitude.
The ground-breaking aerodynamic design allows the Heron to stay in the air for up to 40 hours in its basic flight configuration and carry up to 400 kilograms of payload, offering best-in-class performance. Heron 1 is one of the most mature and advanced systems in the world. More than 120 drones have been delivered to more than 20 users and have logged more than 400,000 flight hours.
Key features of the Heron’s payload optimization are the significant internal payload capacity, unobstructed lower fuselage and high ground clearance. This allows for convenient installation of an external payload. The high wing and retractable undercarriage ensure full, unobstructed 360° visibility/coverage, a large center of gravity span for flexible payload installation, and high electrical power consumption for the payload. In addition, the Heron has been designed with advanced lightweight composite materials for improved maintenance and accessibility, and the dual-boom configuration provides room for multiple antennas.
The result of decades of superior aeronautical engineering, the Heron platform provides a reliable, efficient and safe platform, allowing the user to concentrate on operating the sophisticated and advanced sensors on board.
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