JERUSALEM, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel has successfully completed the first flight of an advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed and manufactured for the German military, the Israeli government company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) said on Sunday.

This is a new version of the IAI's Heron TP, one of the largest UAVs in the world, with a wingspan of 26 meters, overall length of 14 meters and a maximum payload weight of about 2.7 tons.

Its endurance exceeds 30 hours, with a maximum altitude of over 45,000 feet, range of over 1,000 km and speed of over 400 kph.

The UAV was designed to perform a variety of strategic missions, including intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, using various payloads.

It is equipped with automatic taxi-takeoff and landing systems, satellite communication for extended range, fully redundant avionics and more.

The new Heron TP version, modified according to the requirements of the German military, is based on the Israeli "Eitan" UAV, which is in operational use in the Israel Air Force.

According to the IAI, the test flight is a significant milestone in the UAV Agreement between the Israeli and German defense ministries that was signed in June 2018, outlining the leasing of UAVs as well as maintenance and training services.

And German Air Force personnel are training together with their Israeli counterparts in an Israeli air force base in central Israel.

According to the Israeli financial website "Calcalist", the amount of the deal is 600 million U.S. dollars, and the first UAV will be handed to Germany in about six months. Enditem

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