PHOTO:RAAF Australia’s Heron Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) flew its last mission in Afghanistan recently, ending a 5-year long deployme...
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| PHOTO:RAAF |
The three Heron RPAs were based at Kandahar airbase, providing high resolution intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to Australian forces and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan since August 2009.
The fleet have clocked more than 27,000 mission hours in total, during the deployment.
Approximately 490 Australian Air Force, Navy and Army personnel were deployed with the Heron detachment during its 15 rotations.
All Heron detachment personnel will return to Australia by the end of December 2014.
Following the conclusion of Australia’s mission in Uruzgan in December 2013, the Heron mission was extended to support ISAF members in Regional Command – South, including support to the 2014 Afghan presidential election.
Heron is Australian Air Force’s first unmanned aerial system and entered service directly into Afghanistan after Air Force and Army personnel undertook training in Canada in July 2009.
The 1.1 tonne Israeli built Heron RPA can conduct operations in excess of 24 hours, with a maximum speed of more than 100 knots (180 km/h) and at altitudes of up to 10,000 metres.
