Posted on 02/21/2010 8:50:31 AM PST by Track9
The Israel Air Force on Sunday introduced a fleet of large unmanned planes it claims can fly as far as Iran.
Air force officials said the Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 26 meters, making them the size of passenger jets. They said the planes can fly 20 consecutive hours, and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying payloads.
The drones, built by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, were first used during Israel's Gaza war last year.
At an inauguration ceremony Sunday, officials refused to say how large the new fleet is or whether the planes were designed for use against Iran.

Note: it's a turboprop.....
Yes.. quiet.. no heat signature.
Slow and low cruise missiles.
*ping*
Well losd them up and get them on their way to bomb hell out of Iran.
PLEASE.
Cause this marxist muslim scum obammy isn’t gonna do squat.
I am confident to say that this technology was gifted by the Bush Administration to Israel long before leaving office.
Quiet is a relative characteristic and, dependent on its altitude, may have no operational advantage or disadvantage.
Everything has a heat signature (even a free balloon), and is detectable. A night sky provides a relatively uniform background to observe airborne objects. Whether the aircraft is piston, propjet, turbojet or turbofan there is a heat signature (though there are technologies to suppress this). This aircraft does not appear to be terribly stealthy so it would be interesting to see what sort of radar signature it might have. Understand that during an airborne attack on Iran, their radar would be severely compromised.
It will be interesting to see what advantages (if any) this model may have over the propjet powered RPV’s the US is operating.
Could you eloborate? Would the Iranian's ground radar be compromised?
“Would the Iranian’s ground radar be compromised? “
Well, let me put it this way. Were I in charge of organizing an air attack against Iran, this would be one my first priorities. Understand that the Iranian air defense system does not have a great asset in their fighters. The jamming would be primarily beneficial against ground to air missile systems. So, yes the ground radar would be compromised (one way or the others) as it was in Iraq.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.