Israel’s UVision Air announced on 9 August 2023 that its Hero-120 loitering munition has successfully met the requirements for operating in the Arctic following a field evaluation under extreme winter conditions.
The trials were attended by representatives from a number of defence forces with Arctic warfare capabilities and were the concluding phase of a lengthy process that included earlier testflights in the region, as well as extensive laboratory environmental tests, simulating the extreme temperatures, winds, and humidity of the Arctic winter.
When contacted by ESD UVision declined to specify where exactly the trials took place, while noting that the trials took place “recently”.
The Hero-120 loitering munition can carry a multi-purpose warhead with both anti-armour and anti-personnel capabilities. During the evaluation the system was successfully tested on both day and night missions while operating in challenging conditions, including extreme low temperatures, heavy snow, strong winds, high humidity, ice-forming flightconditions, low cloud, and limited visibility. The evaluation found the Hero-120 to remain effective while being compliant with the region’s unique storage and transportation requirements.
The Hero-120’s harsh-weather operational effectiveness, UVision Air pointed out, addresses not only the specific needs of military forces operating in the Arctic, but also the broader north and east of Europe.
“Completing the process of adapting our systems to the harsh climate of the Arctic winter is a significant milestone towards the widespread adoption of the Hero loitering munitions by European and NATO defence forces,” Avi Mizrachi, CEO of UVision, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “The conflict in Ukraine has led the world’s leading armies to understand that they need to be prepared for any scenario and has raised their level of interest in combat-proven, reliable, and robust loitering munitions such as the Hero family,” he added.
Peter Felstead
