Article Posted on : - Feb 26, 2010

The Heron is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) currently in use against Afghan civilians

NEW DELHI (BNS): Poland has signed a deal with Israel to acquire eight unmanned aerial drones, half of which will be used for missions in Afghanistan.

According to Poland’s Defence Ministry website, Israeli company Aeronautics Ltd. has won the 89 million zloty ($33 million) contract beating offers by two other Israeli competitors.

Four of the drones will be sent to Polish troops serving in Afghanistan and the other four would be used for training purposes.

Poland currently has 2,000 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Meanwhile, the German Air Force is all set to deploy its first Israeli Heron 1 UAV to Afghanistan having completed training of its first air force UAV crew in Israel, a report by defensenews.com. said.

The air force acquired the Heron 1 from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) as an urgent requirement for a MALE UAV capability.

The Heron 1 is capable of offering all-weather, day-and-night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support.