RSAF replacing ageing unmanned aerial vehicles

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will acquire Elbit Systems' Hermes 900 as its next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

In a Facebook post on Monday (Nov 3), RSAF said that the acquisition is part of the SAF2040 transformation.

"Ministry of Defence (Mindef) / Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will progressively take delivery of the Hermes 900 (H900) UAV to replace the Hermes 450 (H450), which has been in service for close to two decades and is becoming obsolete," RSAF added.

In an interview with Janes ahead of the 2024 Singapore Airshow, then-Chief of Air Force, Major-General Kelvin Khong, told the defence journal that the air force will be replacing its fleet of Heron 1 and H450 unmanned UAVs "as part of the service's renewal plans", adding that the selected platform will suit SAF's operational requirements.

The H450, also manufactured by Elbit, entered service with RSAF in 2007. It is deployed for real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, target acquisition and designation, and battle damage assessment.

On paper, the H900, a medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, has longer endurance and payload than its predecessor. According to Elbit, it is able to detect ground and maritime targets.

RSAF said that the H900 UAV was selected through "robust and thorough evaluations".

"The H900 UAV was assessed to best meet the SAF's operational needs. Singapore joins a list of countries around the world that operate this system for military and civil uses," added the air force.

This UAV acquisition is RSAF's second platform acquisition in two months. On Sept 10, Mindef announced plans to acquire four new Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).

The new MPAs will likely enter service in the early 2030s.

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editor@asiaone.com