The HAI Ε1-79 Pegasus ( el, ΕΑΒ Ε1-79 Πήγασος) is a Greek indigenous

medium-altitude long-endurance A medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle flies at an altitude window of 10,000 to 30,000 feet (3,000–9,000 m) for extended durations of time, typically 24 to 48 hours.https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/products/falco-xplorer This ...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

(MALE - UAV) produced by the

Hellenic Aerospace Industry Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) ( el, Ελληνική Αεροπορική Βιομηχανία - ΕΑΒ) is the leading aerospace company of Greece. The company headquarters is located in Tanagra, 65 kilometers north-west of Athens, with the ...

(HAI/EAB). It entered service with the

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

as ''Pegasus'' in 1992, and as the upgraded version ''Pegasus II'' in 2005. Its main mission is Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance over-battlefield (ISR-OB).

Design and development

Development on the Pegasus was handled jointly between the ''Hellenic Air Force Research and Development Center (KETA)'' and HAI, and began in 1979 with the maiden flight in prototype form in 1982. The Pegasus is conventional by

Unmanned Aerial System An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

(UAS) standards, incorporating a twin-boom, pusher-prop engine along with a slab-sided fuselage and high-mounted wings. The twin booms emanate from the trailing edge of each mainplane and are capped at the rear by vertical tailplanes, joined together by a shared horizontal plane. The undercarriage is of a tricycle non-retractable type and the aircraft is wheeled for take-off. Over the fuselage is a protruding component, seating a disc-shaped telecommunications antenna. A trainable turret is seen under the fuselage housing sensors and camera equipment.

E1-79 Pegasus

The first generation Pegasus had a length of 2.1 meters (6.9 feet), wingspan of 5 meters (16.4 feet), maximum speed 160 km/h (100 miles-per-hour), minimum speed 75 km/h, takeoff load of 130 kilograms and autonomy of 3.5 hours. Ten units including the ground station infrastructure were produced by Hellenic Aerospace, and a number of them by

KEA The kea (; ; ''Nestor notabilis'') is a species of large parrot in the family Nestoridae found in the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wing ...

to facilitate its performance optimization. It became operational by 1992.

E1-79 Pegasus II

The upgraded

MALE Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

design named Pegasus II (Block I), was introduced in 2005. It featured advanced electronics, an increased fuselage length of 4.3 meters (14.1 feet), increased wingspan 6.2 meters (20.34 feet), takeoff load of 250 kg (551 lb) and increased autonomy of 15 hours. From the 16 units initially produced by the State Aircraft Factory (KEA) and HAI between 2005 and 2007, four units remain operational including the ground stations and equipment. Pegasus II can carry a maximum payload weight of 50 kg and thanks to the wide use of composite materials for its construction, it represents a substantial improvement from the initial design. Its technical features make it suitable for ISR-OB missions and it is evaluated as an ELINT payload carrier. Expectations for its use as a weapons carrier were limited, as the relatively small payload capacity makes it less suitable for these type of missions.

Operators

* The

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

operates 4 units with the HAF Unmanned Aircraft Squadron ''"Acheron"'' of the 110 Fighter Wing in

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Design and development

E1-79 Pegasus

E1-79 Pegasus II

Operators

References

Further reading