IAI Bird-Eye

The IAI Bird-Eye is a family of mini UAVs developed by the Malat division of Israel Aerospace Industries for military and paramilitary intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Development began in 2003 in preparation for an Israeli tender for evaluation mini-UAVs. After a January 2004 demonstration competition the Israel Defense Forces preferred the Elbit Skylark, so IAI continued the Bird-Eye for international markets. Russia ordered Bird-Eye 400 drones in March 2009, in the first publicly announced Russian purchase of Israeli military hardware, and in 2015 IAI and Alpha Design Technologies of India agreed to produce the Bird-Eye 400 and Bird-Eye 650 in India. In June 2016 IAI announced serial production of hundreds of Bird Eye 650D small tactical unmanned aircraft systems, with a range of up to 150 kilometres and an endurance of up to 15 hours.