By Arie Egozi, Autonomy Global – Ambassador for Israel
The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 strategic UAV is now flying around the clock over Iran as part of a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign to find and destroy concealed ballistic missile launchers and related air-defense assets. Operating as a persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform, the MALE-class drone combines long endurance with onboard artificial intelligence (AI) to shorten the find-fix-finish kill chain against mobile targets.
Hermes 900 crews are leveraging AI for real-time data analysis, automatic target detection and mission optimization while the aircraft is on station over suspected launch areas. According to defense sources, AI-driven algorithms fuse data from electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), ground moving target indication (GMTI) and hyperspectral payloads to flag likely missile launchers, radar systems and mobile air-defense batteries hidden in complex terrain.
Onboard AI is also used for flight management, collision avoidance and dynamic path optimization. This enables single sorties of up to 35–36 hours at altitudes approaching 30,000 ft. Such high level of automation supports dense airspace deconfliction with other manned and unmanned assets while keeping the Hermes 900 positioned for continuous coverage of priority target boxes.
Elbit’s multi-role Hermes 900 is the company’s largest UAV family member and is configured for persistent ISTAR, close air support and maritime patrol missions. The platform offers over-the-horizon, multi-mission capability with a payload capacity of up to 450 kg, carried on wing hardpoints and in an internal bay.
Standard and long-range SPECTRO EO/IR/SWIR/LTD turrets, SAR/GMTI and maritime patrol radars, COMINT and cellular intelligence payloads, communications jamming (CoMMJAM), ELINT suites, wide-area “SkyEye” persistent surveillance systems and hyperspectral sensors can be mixed and matched for specific missions. AI-assisted sensor fusion helps operators rapidly interpret this multi-sensor picture, improving situational awareness for both stand-alone Hermes 900 missions and networked operations with U.S. and Israeli strike aircraft.
Following the lifting of a long-standing gag order, the Israeli Air Force has acknowledged operational use of armed UAVs, with the Hermes 900 confirmed as one of the platforms cleared for precision strike missions. While weapon specifications remain classified, Israeli defense industry sources say the munitions have been tailored for launch from unmanned air systems to deliver high accuracy and low collateral damage against time-sensitive targets such as road-mobile ballistic missile launchers.
Israeli officials and industry executives describe ongoing upgrade work to push more AI capabilities to the edge to enable the Hermes 900 to act as a network-centric warfare node rather than a pure ISR collector. These enhancements focus on adaptive mission performance, including rapidly retasking aircraft in response to emerging targets and integrating defensive systems to counter hostile threats to the platform itself.
In the current campaign over Iran, the Hermes 900’s combination of long endurance, heavy payload, AI-enabled processing and proven weapons integration underscores how MALE drones remain central to Israeli and U.S. concepts of operations. As adversaries continue to disperse and conceal ballistic missile and drone launch capabilities, the type is likely to see even more demanding roles.