Hermes 900

Israel's workhorse multi-role MALE UAS — a persistent surveillance and unacknowledged strike platform with 36-hour endurance, SATCOM over-the-horizon control, and over 120 airframes ordered by more than 20 operators worldwide.

Overview

The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 — known in Israeli Air Force service as "Kochav" (Star) — is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system that has become the backbone of the IAF’s persistent ISR fleet and an export mainstay. It can carry 350 kg of payloads ranging from EO/IR and SAR/GMTI to maritime radar, SIGINT and electronic-warfare suites, all while loitering for up to 36 hours via satellite communications. Israel officially designates the Hermes 900 a surveillance platform, but trade-press reports describe compatibility with Spike-family guided missiles, giving it an unacknowledged precision-strike capability. More than 20 countries on four continents have acquired the type, including Switzerland (ADS 15), Brazil (RQ-900), India (Drishti-10 Starliner) and Canada (StarLiner), and new orders from Singapore and a $120 million maritime customer in 2025 keep the production line busy.

Development

Elbit Systems developed the Hermes 900 as the longer-legged successor to the widely-used Hermes 450, flying the prototype for the first time on 9 December 2009 and securing Chile as the launch export customer in 2011, followed by Colombia, Mexico and Brazil Wikipedia. The IAF rushed the aircraft into combat while it was still in advanced development, operating it over Gaza during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014 with Elbit maintainers still on base; the type formally entered the IAF’s operational lineup on 11 November 2015 Wikipedia. From that baseline the family grew rapidly. The heavy-fuel-engine Hermes 900 HFE was developed for Switzerland’s ADS 15 requirement under a 2015 contract worth about $256 million, but the programme has been plagued by delays and quality shortfalls — full military capability is now projected no earlier than 2029 according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office Shephard Media. The StarLiner variant, built to STANAG 4671 and certified by Israel’s civil-aviation authority for un-segregated civilian airspace, opened government and para-public markets, including Canada’s Arctic surveillance programme and the EU’s maritime-safety agency Elbit StarLiner. India’s Drishti-10 Starliner added licensed co-production by Adani Defence & Aerospace from 2024. In February 2024 Elbit unveiled the Hermes 650 Spark, a next-generation tactical MALE positioned below the Hermes 900 that the IAF plans to introduce within about two years Calcalist.

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