Lebanon’s “Al-Mayadin” reports that a Hermes UAV was shot down near Baghdad Airport. An Israeli Hermes drone crashed close Baghdad Airport near the Iraqi capital, the Iranian news agency “Fars” claims this morning citing a report on Lebanon’s “Al-Mayadin” TV channel. The report said that “US embassy security staff have rushed to the crash site and collected the debris and the remains of the downed Israeli drone.” Circumstances surrounding the reported crash of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are unclear but “Al-Mayadin” claims the drone was shot down. The report comes only three days after Iran claims to have shot down a Hermes UAV near its nuclear reactor. An Israeli source told Channel 2, “It’s difficult to say if this is an Israeli UAV or not. From the pictures, it is clear that we are talking about some sort of aircraft but it is not certain that this is Israeli or even a UAV.” He added, “Bringing down a UAV is no simple matter because it is only a very small target and you need a lot of luck to hit it. Perhaps the Iranians themselves built the aircraft and then brought it down. From the film it seems like the Iranians collected the parts and arranged them on the ground as presented because aircraft don’t fall out of the sky like that.” The Hermes 450m manufactured by Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT), is a medium size multi-payload UAV, designed for tactical long endurance missions. It has a flight endurance of over 20 hours, with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com
