Hermes 900 HFE drone crash in Israel (August 05th,2020) Investigation results on the cause now available

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Hermes 900 HFE drone crash in Israel: Investigation results on the cause of the crash now available

Bern, 11.05.2021 - Following the crash of a drone of type Hermes 900 HFE intended for the Swiss Armed Forces over Israeli territory, the Israeli Ministry of Transport initiated an investigation to clarify the cause of the accident. The final report is now available. The manufacturer has repaired the damage and will cover all costs.

On 05 August 2020, a drone of the type Hermes 900 HFE intended for Switzerland crashed over Israeli territory.  The cause of the crash was subsequently investigated under the direction of the Israeli Ministry of Transport. Clarification has been completed and the investigation results are available.

Crash was due to unexpectedly strong oscillations

According to the accident report, the crash was due to the fact that the V tail unit became detached from the fuselage of the drone due to unexpectedly strong oscillations. The drone could thus no longer be controlled and crashed.

The manufacturer has repaired the damage and will cover all costs

The Israeli manufacturing company Elbit Systems Ltd was able to eliminate the cause of this problem with regard to further production of the drone, without changing the drone’s design. The damage is to be borne entirely by Elbit Systems Ltd (see notice of 06/08/2020).
The crash occurred on a test flight of the drone. This resulted in total loss of the drone, but no damage to persons or third-party damage. This is a drone which was intended for the Swiss Armed Forces as part of the delivery scope of the ADS15 procurement.

Delivery from the second semester 2022

Reliable detailed scheduling is still difficult. According to current information, the drones will be delivered from the second semester of 2022 to the summer of 2023. Approval of the radar for the sense-and-avoid system is planned for the end of 2024. The current delays are due, on the one hand, to the time and effort required for certification with the Civil Aviation Authority Israel (CAAI), which was underestimated by the supplier, and on the other hand, to the delayed development of the radar system for sense-and-avoid. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted industry and has severely limited cooperation with the supplier due to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements. Until the approval of the sense-and-avoid radar, the Hermes 900 HFE drone will be deployed in uncontrolled airspace and with an escort aircraft by day.

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Swiss Air Force's fastest Recce - the IAI/RUAG ADS-95 RANGER drone

Since the end of the Mach2 Mirage III RS 'AMIR' in 2003, our fastest Recce is 4.61m long, has an wingspan of 5.71m and has an Vmax of 220km/h ! The quality of the pictures are lower than those on the Mirage, but available in real time and with a range of 4 hours.

Swiss Army uses the Israeli-Swiss drone IAI/RUAG ADS-95 for reconaissance missions. The drone costs about 2.5 Mio SFr ($1.9million), 27 systems (including mobile equipment for command and control) where delivered beginning in 1999. An flighthour costs about 7300 SFr and about 40-60 flights are made for Swiss Border Patrol (Grenzschutz) each year.
The AufklärungsDrohnenSystem 95 is the evolution of the ADS-90 with increased range and charge.

ADS-90

Based on the IAI Ranger and built by F+W Emmen, this 1st drone of the Swiss Air Force had an MTOW of 270 kg with an maximum charge of 41 kg. With 240 km/h maximum speed a bit faster than the ADS-95.

Prototype XP-01 on a poster

 D-101 due Armeetage'99, Frauenfeld

ADS-95

The modified version of the ADS-90 with a MTOW of 275 kg and a maximum charge of 45 kg. Updated Sensors and support vehicles.

 Sometimes (sh)it happens - but without incident on humans/animals - see here for example

Production of ADS-95 systems for Finnish and Swiss Air Force

Here some video pictures published by the Swiss Air Force a couple of years ago:

With those little birds, the pictures are quit nice. German Luftwaffe published some actual footage of there sensors on Tornado aircraft, also capable for live-streaming to the headquarter:

Photo taken by the infrared sensor of the TORNADO:

 Photo edited by fusion of infrared and normal photo taken by TORNADO: 

Source of the German Air Force Tornado Pictures


ADS-15
After an evaluation of multiple modern systems (Long List included five systems, Short List and tests in Switzerland with two systems), Elbit won the competition with the Hermes 900. 'Swissification' consists of a motor change to Diesel and - due that change of gravity - longer wings. Swiss Air Force Insiders hopes the changes/tests in RUAG wind tunnel are paid by Elbit according an article in the NZZ newspaper of September 04th, 2016.


Official site of the Drohnen-Kommando 84