EADS Harfang

The EADS Harfang, called the Système intérimaire de drone MALE or SIDM by the French air force, is a medium-altitude long-endurance drone system that was bought to replace the Hunter drones the force had flown since 1995. The French article names it a product of Cassidian, the EADS subsidiary that is now part of Airbus Defence and Space, and of Israel Aerospace Industries, and it is built on the Israeli IAI Heron, with the airframe and onboard computer made by the Malat division of IAI. The first flight took place at Istres-Le Tubé air base on 9 September 2006 and the system entered service in June 2008. A rear Rotax engine drives a pusher propeller on a twin-boom airframe with a high wing; the drone has a take-off mass of 1.2 tonnes and a wingspan of 16.6 metres and can carry 250 kilograms of mission equipment to 7,500 metres for 24 hours. The French air force used four aircraft and two ground stations until it retired them in January 2018, and Morocco operates three.