Why in the News?

Adani Aerospace and Defence in partnership with Elbit Systems manufactures the complete carbon composite aerostructures for Hermes 900 and Hermes 450 in Hyderabad.

About Hermes 900 Starliner:

• The Hermes 900 StarLiner is an Israeli-made, medium-size, multi-payload, medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions.
• It is also known as the Hermes 900 Heavy-Fuel Engine (HFE).
• It is developed by Elbit Systems.
• It is a successor to the Hermes 450 series of drones, one of the most widely used military drones in the world.
• The aircraft has a service ceiling of 30,000ft and offers a flight endurance of up to 36 hours.
• The Hermes 900 has a wingspan of 15 m (49 ft) and can carry a range of multi-sensor payloads weighing up to 450kg for multiple applications.
• Payload options include electro-optical/infrared sensors, synthetic-aperture radar/ground-moving target indication, communications and electronic intelligence, electronic warfare, and hyperspectral sensors.
• The drone has direct and indirect lighting strike capability and can perform missions under instrument flight rules (IFR) in all weather conditions.