2Excel Aviation and IAI Demo IAI's Maritime Heron UAS to UK Government and Civil Observers

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and 2Excel Aviation successfully completed a demonstration of IAI’s Maritime Heron uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) in a series of live, Beyond Visual Line of Sight maritime search and ISR scenarios.

The demonstration was based out of West Wales Airport in Aberporth, Wales. Attending the demonstration were in-person and virtual observers from the UK Ministry of Defence, Government and the Civil sector. Following the demonstration, IAI and 2Excel received positive feedback from the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

The Heron UAS was ready to fly within 36 hours of arriving at West Wales and maintained full serviceability throughout the period of the deployment. The Heron UAS achieved 100% of its planned scenarios, and demonstrated that it is highly capable in missions including search and rescue, border protection, fisheries patrol, safety at sea, small boat detection, and surveillance and other activities.

Andy Offer, Co-Founder and Director of 2Excel Aviation, said: “2Excel and IAI together demonstrated they can operate a very capable Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) platform in the UK within the constraints of the current regulatory environment. It is another shining example of us being able to do difficult things well. The feedback from the UK Civil Aviation Authority was very positive and we feel confident about the roadmap for future unmanned operations across our suite of contract air services.”