The Israeli air industries first unveiled its new Harop "loiter drone" for taking out ground-to-air missiles at the annual Aero-India 2009 air show which closed recently at Bangalore. The Harop is an upgraded version of the Harpy with more advanced features for taking out radar installations and anti-air missile installations. It can travel 1,000 km to patrol an assigned area and loiter there until a hostile target is exposed. Its 23-kilo warhead then strikes the target before it is activated in attack mode.
The Russian S-300 missile purchased by Tehran is one such target. It is classified in the West as a "game-changer" designed to rule out air attacks on its nuclear sites. This missile system is capable of engaging up to 100 targets at once, tracking targets with a mobile radar station which is immune to jamming.
The Harop is an expendable unmanned aerial vehicle which can sustain a mission of several hours over an assigned area. Operated by electro-optical sensors, Harop can detect weapons systems in inert mode, weapons on the move and radar installations switched off to avoid detection.
Our military experts maintain that once it penetrates Iranian airspace, this drone can silence surface-to-air batteries and open the skies to aerial and missile attack. |