THIS powerful drone is Israel’s lethal the eye in the sky as it’s so precise it can kill a driver inside a car and leave its passengers alive in the back seat.
The Israeli-made Hermes 900, also known as Kochav or Star, carries a variety of guided bombs and can deliver a precise legal strike from up to 30,000ft above the ground.
AlamyThe Hermes 900 can deliver a precise legal strike from up to 30,000ft in the sky[/caption]
The medium-range drone can endure up to 30 hours up in the sky in a single sortie and has a payload capacity of up to 992lbs, Defence Procurement International reports.
Manufactured by Elbit Systems, Hermes 900 can carry a variety of classified weapons, high-definition optical sensors, aerial surveillance cameras and laser markers to pinpoint targets.
Along with ground support and maritime patrol missions, the lethal drone can be used for attacks on ground targets.
The Hermes 900 relays live images back to a small darkened control room at Israel’s Palmachim Airbase, where two young pilots gave a glimpse of what goes on as Israel reaches its 76th day at war with Hamas.
“We use small laser guided bombs with a payload of about a hundredth of a fighter jet”, one of them told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
“We have two types. One can go down to the metre, meaning we could theoretically take out the driver of a vehicle leaving the person in the backseat alive; shaken up but alive.
“The other has a kill radius of five to 10 metres.
The young pilot, in his 20s, added: “Part of our professionalism is knowing which bomb to use for which mission.
“We can move it until the final seconds, and divert it into the sand if necessary.
“For every strike there must first be a designated abort area.”
Unlike the US Reapers and other military drones, the Hermes 900 all but flies itself.
“The planes are completely autonomous on the flight level” the Israeli pilot told The Telegraph.
“You literally click on a map, and that’s where it goes.
“So nearly all of our training, all of our focus, is on the operational aspect of what we do – it’s about decision making.”
Both pilots use the acronym RPA (remotely piloted aircraft) to describe the drones they fly instead of the more common UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) used in the United States and Europe.
“Why do we use RPA? Because it’s not unmanned. It’s remotely piloted. We’re taking responsibility from afar”, one of them said.
“The practical application of that is that we never disconnect the camera from the mission. We never leave it. We are always there.”
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is said to have developed a doctrine of using its armed UAVs in different scenarios, Defence Procurement International reports.
This includes using formations and different missiles.
The UAVs are equipped with very advanced payloads that help detect the targets “under severe” conditions.
The Hermes-900 (Kochav), which means star in Hebrew, entered service with the IAF in 2012, and two years later was used in the Protective Edge operation against Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli defence companies, namely Rafael and IAI, developed special weapon systems for the IAI’s armed UAVs.
AlamyHermes 900 can endure up to 30 hours up in the sky and reports back to base with live images[/caption]
AlamyThe lethal drone can be used for attacks on ground targets[/caption]
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