Airbus Defence signs contract to provide Heron 1 drones in Mali

The drones will support the Bundeswehr mission, which focuses on the Gao region of Mali.

 

The unmanned systems will be leased from Israeli manufacturer IAI and operated by Airbus, and are due to begin operation in November of this year, supporting the mission until February 2018.

 

“A major success factor for this new assignment is our experience gained in more than 2300 missions over Afghanistan. There we have proven our reliability to the full satisfaction of our customer – with a fleet availability higher than 95 percent,” said Thomas Reinartz, head of sales for unmanned aerial systems, Airbus.

 

Bundeswehr took over the responsibility for the intelligence unit in Mali, and requires a long endurance surveillance system to cover the large area.

 

The Heron 1 provides high availability of the fleet and a high flexibility in contract duration.