Hermes 1500

 


 
The Hermes 1500 is a medium altitude long endurance Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV) for maritime patrol and other types of support missions.

It is the largest (UAV) in the family (length 9.4 m, wingspan 18 m and weight 1650 kg), and  designed for strategic and high-end tactical missions.  With high payload multi-sensor capability incorporating significant growth potential (300 kg, 2000 L, 9 kVA) the Hermes 1500 is effective for ISTAR, SIGINT, communication relays and other missions for Corps to Command levels.

It is powered by twin 100 hp Rotax engines that provide a maximum speed of 130 KTAS@SL, altitude over 33 kft, endurance over 26 hours.

The Hermes 1500 features fully redundant avionics, fully autonomous flight, LOS and/or satellite communication data link with a fully composite structure.

It is runway launched and recovered and shares a common Ground Control Station and data link avionics with the entire Hermes family.
 
 

This is a large endurance UAV that can easily be mistaken for any number of private twin-engine passenger aircraft. It is ifact a well-appointed UAV for long-range surveillance and tactical reconnaissance. These aircraft were not used by the Israelis, but were bought by several Israeli allies and business interests, most notably the South Africans, Argentines, and Singapore, as well as some civilian scientific agencies for land survey and mapmaking. 

In an press release on 2 June 1998, Elbit Systems Ltd announced the first flight of the Hermes 1500.
 

 
Performance:
 
Mission radius (LOS)
200 km
Endurance
>24 hours
Operational altitude
up to 30,000 ft
Max. speed
130 kts
Cruise speed
80-120 kts
 
Technical Data:
 
Wingspan
15 m
Fuselage length
9.4 m
Take-off weight
1500 kg
Payload weight
350 kg
Power available for payloads
9.8 kW
Twin turbo-charge Rotax 914 engines, rated at 100hp each
 
 

Military support missions:

  • Long range EO/IR observation
  • SAR/GMTI
  • Communication relay
  • Maritime patrol
  • Various payloads according to
  • customer requirements

Non military missions:

  • Coastal surveillance
  • Border patrol
  • Resource exploration
  • Cellular node
  • Atmospheric research

Main Features:

  • Payload capacity: 350 Kg (2000 Liters of unobstructed volume in the fuselage)
  • Complete redundancy of all systems: Engines, avionics, communication, mechanical
  • Fully autonomous flight capability
  • Long endurance on station
  • Common state-of-the-art Ground Control Station - compatible with Hermes 450 system
  • Light, high strength composite material structure
  • Optional BLOS (satellite communication)
 
 
Ground Control Station
 



 
 
Main Features
  • Mission planning, management & control 
  • Built-in data exploitation and dissemination 
  • Full mission debriefing & simulation 
  • Identical and redundant consoles 
  • Single operator, advanced HMI 
  • Ruggelized COTS H/W 
  • Commercial S/W tools 
  • Common GCS / DGCS (Down-sized GCS) to Hermes A/V family 
  • Interoperability - STANAG optional 
  • S-280 or downsize mobile station