Israel’s flagship drone crashes during test flight
January 30th, 2012 - 4:38 am ICT by IANSJerusalem, Jan 30 (IANS) An Israeli military drone, said to be the most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle currently operated by the Israel Air Force (IAF), crashed Sunday morning during a test flight.
Army Radio said that the Heron TP went down in an open field near a farming community shortly after taking off from the Tel Nof Air base in central Israel. Nobody injured in the incident, Xinhua reported.
The test flight was jointly conducted by the IAF and Israel Aerospace Industries, the drone’s developer, said a military spokeswoman, adding that a probe into the incident has been launched.
The military declined to comment on the model that crashed.
Local media, however, said it was the Heron TP II, an all-weather drone inaugurated by the IAF last February with a cruising altitude of about 13,700 metres and a maximal payload of one ton that can remain aloft for 36 hours - features that enable it to fly strategic reconnaissance missions over countries as far away as Iran.
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Tags: aerospace industries, army radio, central israel, crashes, cruising altitude, drone, farming community, flagship, heron, israel air force, israel air force iaf, local media, military spokeswoman, nof, payload, reconnaissance missions, sunday morning, test flight, unmanned aerial vehicle, xinhua