Israeli/German Program Opens New Doors with Approved Interoperability

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has obtained a German type certificate for the Heron TP, a medium-altitude, high-endurance, uncrewed aircraft.

Undoubtedly helpful in the process was the fact that the Heron is a joint effort with Airbus DS Airborne Solutions, as well as its long combat history throughout Afghanistan and Mali in German and Israeli operations. Airbus DS (an Airbus subsidiary, naturally ran point on the type certification effort, which required multiple systems to be adapted for compliance with modern civil airspace standards along with STANAG 4671. With the changes, Airbus DS, IAI, and the German Military Aviation Authority cooperated to tame the piles of documentation produced by such an effort, proving the system ready for certification.

"Together, we have achieved a true milestone: The German Heron TP has become the first UAV in the German armed forces and probably the first UAV in the world to fully comply with an internationally agreed airworthiness code," said German Military Aviation Authority Director Jan Kuebart. "It is probably the first unmanned aircraft system which fully complies to the latest revision of NATO's airworthiness code. This huge success could only be achieved by a high degree of professionalism on all sides and a close and excellent cooperation of the involved industry partners and authorities."

"The Type Certificate for GHTP is the result of common effort and close cooperation between the customer, our companies and nations and marks a cornerstone in the RPAS class which has never been achieved before," said Airbus DS CEO Tim Behrens. "We are very proud that we can deliver to our customer the German Armed Forces a high performance system according to the latest standards to support their mission related needs."

FMI: www.iai.co.il