The IAI Searcher (also known by the Hebrew name מרומית ''Meyromit'' - "

Marsh tern The name marsh tern refers to terns of the genus ''Chlidonias'', which are typically found in freshwater marshes, rather than coastal locations. The genus name ''Chlidonias'' is from Ancient Greek , "swallow-like", from , "swallow". Species Ther ...

", or officially in Israel as the חוגלה ''Hugla'' - "

Alectoris ''Alectoris'' is a genus of partridges in the family Phasianidae, closely related to Old World quail (''Coturnix'' and relatives), snowcocks ('' Tetraogallus''), partridge-francolins (''Pternistis''), bush quail (''Perdicula''), and sand and see- ...

") is a reconnaissance

UAV 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 ...

developed in Israel in the 1980s. In the following decade, it replaced the

IMI Mastiff The Tadiran Mastiff is a battlefield UAV built by Tadiran Electronic Industries, regarded by some military historians as the world's first modern military drone.The ''Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military Hi ...

and

IAI Scout The IAI Scout (known in Israel under its Hebrew name זהבן - " Oriole") is a reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle developed in Israel in the 1970s by Israel Aircraft Industries as a competitor to the Tadiran Mastiff. The project was led by Char ...

UAVs then in service with the

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...

Design

The Searcher looks almost identical to the

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

and

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

, but is in fact scaled up and is well over twice the size of the Scout. The Searcher is powered by a 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 or was in use by Singapore and Turkey, as well as Thailand, Russia, India, South Korea, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Operational deployment

More than 100 Searcher IIs are being operated by the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

and the Indian Navy. It took part in the large-scale Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad in September 2021. On March 13, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defence released video of the use of the updated Russian version in Ukraine.

Crashes

10 June 2002 – Searcher Mark-II, operated by

for reconnaissance, was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force F-16B using AIM-9L Sidewinder at an altitude of 13,000 ft, after it was spotted by the mobile observation units. 11 July 2018 – A Russian ''"Forpost"'' UAV was found on 12 July in a field close to the village of Barqah, about 12 kilometres from the Israeli side of the Golan Heights (Syria) but none of the belligerents claimed the shot-down nor the loss. On 11 March 2022, a Russian ''"Forpost"'' UAV was shot down in

Zhitomir Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast ( uk, Жито́мирська о́бласть, translit=Zhytomyrska oblast), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna ( uk, Жито́мирщина}) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the obla ...

Operators

* * * * * * * Canadian Security Intelligence Service * * * - as ' (Форпост) licensed copy with a 250 km range. 30 systems with 3 UAVs each. The fully domestic version Forpost-R made its first flight in late August 2019. 10 Forpost-R systems were ordered. Deliveries of the modified UCAVs with reconnaissance and strike capabilities started in 2020. Russia has decided to continue domestic production of the Forpost-R. * (retired; replaced by IAI Heron-1 in 2011) * *

Specifications

Searcher II MK3

Forpost-R

The Forpost-R is the designation for the Russian developed UCAV based on the IAI Searcher. In 2008, Russia had approached Israel to import drones following the Russo-Georgian War, with Israel refusing to provide armed drones, an agreement was made to provide IAI Searchers MKII. According to a YouTube video and information published by the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 13, 2022, Russian armed forces have used an armed version of the Forpost-R Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to destroy a multiple launch rocket system from the Ukrainian army from an altitude of 3,000 m using guided missiles.

Armaments (Forpost-R)

* X-BPLA anti tank missile

References

This article contains material that originally came from the web articl
''Unmanned Aerial Vehicles''
by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain. {{IAI aircraft Searcher 1980s Israeli military reconnaissance aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Twin-boom aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of Russia