The Hermes 450 is a medium-sized multi-payload unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed by Israeli defence company Elbit for tactical long endurance missions.
[1] In 2008, Elbit announced that a new R902(W) Wankel engine, weighing about 40 kilograms (88 lb) and developing 70 brake horsepower (52 kW) using electronic fuel control, would be used in the Hermes 450.
[7] The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated and showed the debris of two Herbil drones shot down on March 18 and April 20 with serial numbers 551 and 553 respectively.
[10][11] Israeli Hermes 450 UAVs has seen service in the Gaza Strip operations, the Second Lebanon War as well as in the 2009 Sudan air raids.
[20][21][22] On 1 April 2024, a Hermes 450 drone reportedly carried out missile strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza.
[26][27] In initial testing, the Hermes 450 was used to capture pictures of farmland in North Dakota, the only state with an FAA clearance to fly drones above the current federal maximum height limit of 200 feet.
In September 2013, the Hermes 450 reached 70,000 flight hours supporting British troops in Afghanistan, the equivalent of 8 years of non-stop flying.
[47] When the Watchkeeper WK450 entered service in Afghanistan in mid-September 2014 and the ground-based radar coverage at Bastion was switched off, the British Army stopped using the interim leased Hermes 450.