Israel becomes first country allowing drones in civilian airspace: Minister

Israel's Ministry of Transport and Road Safety has announced the country's first certification for unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) to operate in civilian airspace.

The certification was issued on Wednesday by the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to the Hermes Starliner unmanned system, which was developed and manufactured by Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense electronics company.

"I am proud that Israel becomes the first country which allows UAVs to operate for the benefit of agriculture, environment, fight against crime, the people and the economy," said Israeli Transport and Road Safety Minister, Merav Michaeli.

The approval will allow Elbit's drone to fly in civilian airspace like any other civilian airliner, rather than being restricted to unsegregated airspace, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Hermes Starliner, which has a wingspan of 17 metres and weighs 1.6 ton, can fly for up to 36 hours at an altitude of about 7,600 metres, and can carry an additional 450 kg of electro-optical, thermal, radar and other payloads.

It will be able to participate in border security and anti-terror operations, take part in securing mass public events, perform maritime search and rescue, commercial aviation and environmental inspection missions, as well as precision agriculture work.

The CAA has supervised the design and manufacturing of the Hermes Starliner and led a rigorous six-year certification process that included extensive ground and flight tests.

For safety reasons, international aviation regulations prohibit uncertified aircraft from flying in civilian airspace, limiting the operation of UAVs to unsegregated airspace.

--IANS

int/khz/