Unmanned, Unblinking Eyes Over The Ocean

The ramp-up of capability in terms of MALE/HALE operations is happening, although fully operational systems in many cases are still some years away.

- David Oliver

At the dawn of the New Year, tensions in the Asia-Pacific region remain at a high level. With North Korea’s leader announcing the continued development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and concerns about the situation in the East and South China Seas remaining, an increasing number of countries are enhancing their intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities with medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Singapore was one of the first countries in the region to acquire state of-the-art MALE UAV when it took delivery of Elbit Systems Hermes 450s in May 2007. However, it was not until March 2015 that the H-450s operated by the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) 116 Squadron at Murai Camp, achieved Full Operational Capability (FOC) status. The UAV pilots, air force engineers and maintenance crew had undergone intensive training to operate and maintain the aircraft, as well as integrating the capability to support the RSAF's operations.

The RSAF also took delivery of Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron 1 MALE UAVs in 2012 which achieved FOC status with the RSAF’s 119 and 128 Squadrons in March 2017. The Heron 1s are capable of being deployed alongside RSAF fighter aircraft and attack helicopters.

The Heron 1 MALE has a wingspan of around 16m (54ft) and can carry a 250kg (550lb) payload to an operating altitude of 9,145m (30,000ft) for up to 52 hours. It can be equipped with an Elta EL/M-2055 SAR/GMTI or EL/M-2022U maritime surveillance radar in a large ventral radome, which allows multi-target track while-scan of up to 32 targets. Other payloads can include communications intelligence (COMINT), electronic support measures/electronic intelligence (ESM/ELINT) Ku-band SATCOM or other customer-furnished sensors.