Hungary has placed an order for Hero loitering munitions (LMs) with Germany’s Rheinmetall and Israel’s UVision, Rheinmetall announced on 20 July 2023.
The order is worth a figure in the “low three-digit-million euro range”, according to Rheinmetall, with deliveries to begin in 2024 and conclude in 2025.
The Hero family of LMs were developed by UVision but are fabricated and marketed by Rheinmetall under a strategic partnership agreed in October 2021.
The companies did not disclose the particular types of Hero LM ordered by Hungary, but the range runs from the manportable Hero-30, which weighs 7.8 kg with its canister, to the vehicle or ship-launched Hero-1250, which weighs 155 kg and carries a 50 kg warhead.
Hero LMs “are specifically designed to provide frontline forces (including special forces) with long-range independent fire capability, combined with advanced intelligence-gathering ability that until now could only be achieved by complex co-operation between several units and echelons”, according to UVision.
All but the largest Hero LMs are characterised by a cruciform wing configuration that enables high manoeuvrability, allowing the operator to maintain ‘eyes on target’ and achieve targeting accuracy. The various types of Hero LM feature a high degree of commonality and can therefore be operated from the same operating and datalink terminal on the ground.
Peter Felstead
