Harfang Undergoes Command Handover Testing

A Harfang Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) belonging to the French Air Force (FAF) and the UAS detachment stationed in the Sahel-Sahara region underwent testing of Remote Split Operations (RSO) concept.

The UAS piloting functions could be transferred from the cockpit in Niger, where the UAV took off from, to the cockpit in Cognac almost 5,000 km away, and that the main sensor of the UAV could be activated.Once Harfang has taken off from its overseas deployment base it can be controlled from a cockpit located in France.

The current Harfang fleet consists of four UAVs and three ground stations. Harfang is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS developed for the FAF.

The French defense procurement agency DGA recently signed a contract with Airbus Defense and Space and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the upgrade of the FAF's Harfang fleet, as well as for its on-condition maintenance until the end of 2017.

Harfang is based on the IAI Heron platform and is a combat-proven Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) system in the Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS category that is designed for reconnaissance and in-depth tracking operations in the battlefield.

It is equipped with optronic sensors and radar, which ensure that missions can be carried out around the clock in all weather conditions.

Deployed at the US base in Bagram, the Harfang system has performed 600 missions and clocked up around 5,000 flight hours. In 2011, Harfang was also deployed at the Sigonella base in Italy as part of the Harmattan operation conducted in Libya.

More recently, the Harfang UAS has been used in several French operations in the Sahel region in Africa, notably since January 2013 in Operation Serval in Mali.