Hermes 900 MALE-UAVs, aka Drishti-10, Arriving Early Next Year for IA & IN

It was on March 2, 2021 that Israel’s ELBIT Systems had announced that it had received a US$300 million contract from an undisclosed Asian customer to supply and deliver Hermes 900 Starliner MALE-UAS. The contract also requires ELBIT Systems to provide MRO services for those MALE-UAVs. That customer has turned out to be India, with six each of the UAVs and one each of the ground-based control stations going to the Indian Army and Indian Navy.

All 12 Hermes 900s will be licence-assembled by Adani Defence & Aerospace, through its Adani-Elbit UAV Complex subsidiary, located at the Adani Aerospace Park in Hyderabad. Adani Defence & Aerospace had first exhibited the Hermes 900 during the Aero India 2017 expo in Bengaluru. Thereafter, the $15 million Adani-Elbit UAV Complex was inaugurated in December 2018, where most of the composites-based aerostructures for the Hermes 900 are fabricated.

The Hermes 900 has a payload capacity of 300kg, service ceiling of 9,100 metres (30,000 feet), a cruise speed of 112kph (60 Knots), and an endurance of 36 hours at cruise speed. The payload includes either a synthetic aperture radar for ground target-mapping, or a maritime surveillance radar as well as the standard optronic sensor, plus an electronic surveillance system and the automatic identification system (AIS) for maritime surveillance. Eyeing India’s long coastline, ELBIT notes that maritime patrol aircraft could not possibly cover the country’s 200-mile offshore economic exclusion zone (EEZ) without the benefit of cross-cueing from a wide-area surveillance system such as the Hermes 900.

Elbit claims that the Hermes 900 could fly as far as 1,000nm offshore thanks to SATCOM communications, and make frequent descents from higher altitude so that the optronic sensor could identify vessels. The command-and-control system is housed in a single shelter that can allow it to be carried by warships. ELBIT has teamed with another Israeli company, MARINT, to offer advanced maritime analytical software that can exploit data from multiple sources. Vessel behaviour is analysed to detect anomalous and suspicious behaviour that differs from routine maritime patterns.

It is believed that the IN’s and IA’s Hermes 900s will be equipped with the Leonardo Group’s Gabbiano X-band TS-80 PLUS multi-mode radars, weighing 44kg, which offers a set of surveillance capabilities such as high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) for patrol and surveillance operations. The radar integrates improved solid-state technology that offers similar performance of the earlier Gabbiano T200 radar and reduces its weight by 25kg, while escalating its mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) rate to 2,500 hours. The radar integrates the 360° antenna group with wide-elevation scan (+20°/-55°); a one metre-wide flat antenna plate as well as 80W of power that enables it to offer effective long-range surveillance. Furthermore, the Gabbiano TS-80 PLUS comes with the Gabbiano family mode suite, including air-to-sea surveillance with track-while-scan (TWS); high-resolution ground mapping (Spot/Strip-SAR); ship target imaging and classification with ISAR mode, and navigation with ground mapping and weather avoidance.

All three armed services of India have a combined MALE-UAV requirement for 155 MALE-UAVs.

It may be recalled that Adani Enterprises Ltd had in December 2018 announced the acquisition of Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd for Rs.400 crore in an all-cash deal. Alpha Design in turn has had a joint venture (JV) involving ELBIT Security Systems (ELSEC). And it was this JV that in September 2021 received a contract for supplying the IA with 100 SkyStriker loitering attack drones worth around Rs.100 crore.

The SkyStriker, which is launched through an automatic pneumatic launch platform, can reach a distance of 20km in less than 10 minutes. The total range of this attack drone is around 100km. According to ELBIT, it can loiter and pursue a target for up to 2 hours with a 5kg warhead or up to 1 hour with a 10kg warhead. At maximum speed (100 Knots), the SkyStriker can reach a distance of 20km within 6.5 minutes, reducing the loitering time by 15 minutes.

When preparing to strike, it navigates based on its optronic “lock” on the target. During the strike phase, SkyStriker can dive at extremely high speeds of up to 300 Knots and can withstand winds of up to 20 Knots.

Adani Defence & Arospace is also in the process of bagging two more orders: one for additional HAROP attack drones (to add to the 12 that were procured early in the previous decade) to be procured by the Indian Air Force (IAF), and another for upgrading the IAF’s existing stockpile of 40 HARPY anti-radar attack drones.