The initial batch of Hermes 450 medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which are part of one complete system of Hermes 450 for Philippine Air Force (PAF) are already in the Philippines. The unmanned aerial system (UAS) was ordered from Israeli company Elbit Systems.
MaxDefense Philippines said in a post in its social networking page that it has received information that some of the Elbit Hermes 450 MALE UAVs for PAF are already in the Philippines and are undergoing flight tests from Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas.
In another post, MaxDefense shared a photo of one of the UAVs conducting flight test.
“As mentioned by a source who is familiar with the project, the first batch of Hermes 450 were delivered to the PAF last week. They were then assembled in the Philippines by Elbit,” MaxDefense said.
MaxDefense, in its Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program monitoring system, indicates that under the UAS (Level 3) Acquisition Project, PAF is set to receive one complete system of Hermes 450 with 4 UAVs and three complete systems of Hermes 900 with 3 UAVs each.
(Mintfo)