IAI Searcher
Searcher | |
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IAI Searcher in Tel Nof Airbase, Israel | |
Role | Reconnaissance UAV |
National origin | Israel |
Manufacturer | IAI |
Introduction | • Searcher 1 - 1992[1]
• Searcher 2 - 1998[1] |
The IAI Searcher (also known by the Hebrew name מרומית Meyromit - "Marsh tern",[2] or officially in Israel as the חוגלה Hugla - "Alectoris") is a reconnaissance UAV developed in Israel in the 1980s. In the following decade, it replaced the IMI Mastiff and IAI Scout UAVs then in service with the Israeli Army.
Contents
Design
The Searcher looks almost identical to the Scout and Pioneer, but is in fact scaled up and is well over twice the size of the Scout. The Searcher is powered by a 35 kW (47 hp) piston engine. The new design features updated avionics and sensor systems with greater flight endurance as well as increased redundancy for improved survivability. In addition to Israel, the system had been exported and is currently in use by India, South Korea, Singapore,[3] Thailand and Turkey.[4]
Operational deployment
More than 100 Searcher IIs are being operated by the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy
Crashes
May 21, 2015 Russian UAV "Forpost" (Searcher II, tail number 923) crashed near Avdeevka (Donetsk region, Ukraine). The aircraft was shot down by Ukrainian volunteer battalion Dnipro-1.[5]
Users

Azerbaijan[6]
Cyprus[7]
India
Sri Lanka
Ecuador Navy
Indonesia
Israel
Republic of Korea
Russia - as Forpost (Форпост) licensed copy
Singapore
Spain
Timor-Leste[citation needed]
Thailand[8]
Specifications (Searcher II)
General characteristics
- Crew: None
- Capacity: 68 kg (150 lb) payload
- Length: 5.85 m (19 ft 2 in)
- Wingspan: 8.54 m (28 ft 0 in)
- Height: 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in)
- Gross weight: 500 kg (1,100 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Limbach L 550, 35 kW (47 hp) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 200 km/h (125 mph)
- Endurance: 18 hours
- Service ceiling: 6,100 m (20,000 ft)
See also
- Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to IAI Searcher. |
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This article contains material that originally came from the web article Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.
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- ↑ http://censor.net.ua/photo_news/337036/kadry_sborki_sbitogo_na_donbasse_rossiyiskogo_bespilotnika_forpost_na_uralskom_zavode_po_zakazu_minoborony
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- Pages with reference errors
- Articles with unsourced statements from January 2012
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- IAI unmanned aerial vehicles
- Israeli military reconnaissance aircraft 1980–1989
- Single-engined pusher aircraft
- Twin-boom aircraft
- Unmanned military aircraft of Israel
- Articles with dead external links from November 2012