The IAI Searcher (also known by the Hebrew name מרומית ''Meyromit'' - " Marsh tern", 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-s ...

") is a reconnaissance

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

developed in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in the 1980s. In the following decade, it replaced the IMI Mastiff and IAI Scout UAVs then in service with the

Israeli Army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

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, sect ...

and Pioneer, 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 Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, as well as

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Service history

Around 100 Searcher UAVs are being operated by the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the armed forces, military forces of the India, Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Ar ...

. While the Indian Army operates at least 25 units of Mk-I and Mk-II variant, the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

and the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

operates the Mk-II variant only. On 11 December 2024, the Indian Navy de-inducted 8 Searcher Mk-IIs from INAS 342 and INAS 343 at Kochi. 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 The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

F-16B using AIM-9L Sidewinder at an altitude of 13,000 ft, after it was spotted by the mobile observation units. 21 November 2017 – A Searcher Mk-II of the

crashed in the north of INS Garuda,

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

just after take-off at 10:25 am IST during routine surveillance mission. The crash occurred due to technical issues. 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. 11 March 2022 – a Russian ''"Forpost"'' UAV was shot down in

Zhitomir Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast (), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Zhytomyr. Its population is approximately History The oblast was created as par ...

. 18 March 2024 – a Searcher Mk-II drone of the Indian Navy crashed while landing after a routine training sortie at INS Garuda. The UAV touched the ground about one mile short of the runway at 5 pm IST. No injuries or damage to property has been reported. A team was immediately dispatched to render the UAV safe.

Operators

Current operators

* * *: Total 108 received including those of the Navy. ** ** * * * *

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; , ''SCRS'') is a Intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service and security agency of the Government of Canada, federal government of Canada. It is responsible for gathering, processing, a ...

* * * - 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) * * (operated as ''Forpost-R'' UCAV) *

Former operators

*: 8 Searcher Mk-IIs operated by INAS 342 and INAS 343 from 2002 to 2024.

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 The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

, 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 (three weeks after Russia had started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine), Russian armed forces have used an armed version of the Forpost-R to destroy a

multiple launch rocket system A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a vol ...

of the Ukrainian army from an altitude of 3,000 m using guided missiles. According to a video surfaced online and information published by the Russian Ministry of Defense on June 21, 2024, Russian armed forces used a strike version of the Forpost-R unmanned aerial vehicle to destroy militants in Syria. On April 20, 2025, Ukraine for the first time intercepted and shot down a Russian "Forpost" at an altitude of 4 km using an interceptor drone.

Armaments (Forpost-R)

* X-BPLA anti tank missile

References

This article contains material that originally came from the web article by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain. {{Soviet and Russian UAVs, state=collapsed Searcher 1980s Israeli military reconnaissance aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Twin-boom aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft