The Orbiter Mini UAV System is an Israeli compact and lightweight

unmanned aerial vehicle 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 Dron ...

designed for use in military and security applications. It has been used in the Middle East since it was first developed. The system is used for 'Over The Hill' reconnaissance missions, Low Intensity Conflicts and Urban warfare operations as well as any close range

ISTAR ISTAR stands for Military intelligence, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, #ISTAR, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employ ...

mission. It is manufactured by the

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 ...

i company

Aeronautics Defense Systems Aeronautics Defense Systems, doing business as Aeronautics, is an Israeli defense contractor headquartered in Yavne, Israel. The company primarily manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles for both military and civilian applications. Aeronautics’ se ...

. Aeronautics announced in May 2015 the Orbiter 1K "Kingfisher" version with a fuselage adapted to carry a explosive payload, turning it into a

loitering munition A loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone, kamikaze drone, or exploding drone, is a weapon with a warhead that is typically designed to Loiter (aeronautics), loiter until a target is designated, then crash into it.electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...

infrared sensor Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared imag ...

with a unique warhead that, due to its low acoustic signature, “is not detected until two seconds before it starts its kill dive”. Aeronautics announced the armed loitering UAV achieved operational status in August 2016.

Accidents and incidents

According to news reports, an Orbiter Mini UAV, operated by the

Mexican Federal Government The politics of Mexico function within the framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic whose government is based on a multi-party congressional system, where the President of Mexico is both head of state and head ...

, likely the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

, malfunctioned on December 17, 2010. During a surveillance operation, it crossed the border into US

airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as outer space which is t ...

and crashed in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. No property was damaged, as the UAV apparently deployed a

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

during its descent. It was reported to and retrieved by

U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...

Operational history

The Orbiter 1k was employed by the

Azerbaijani Armed Forces The Azerbaijani Armed Forces () is the military of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's armed forces were ...

during the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, surrounding occupied territories. It was a major esca ...

. In 2017, Israeli company Aeronautics Limited was hit with fraud charges and violation of Israel's export control laws. Israeli members of the company were found to have “demonstrated” their suicide drone with an actual strike on Armenians in the region. Critics maintained that Israeli supplying regimes cheap drones like these were fueling the conflict in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Operators

* -

Azerbaijani Land Forces The Azerbaijani Land Forces () are the land force component of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been trying to create professional, well trained, and mobile armed forces. Based on 2013 statistics, th ...

- Orbiter-3 - has a local plant for manufacturing * -

Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( or HKoV) is the land force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is numerically the largest of the three branches of the Croatian Armed Forces. The HKoV is the main force for the defense of the country against external threa ...

- The latest variant Orbiter 3b - 6 * -

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

- two sets delivered - Orbiter-2B * -

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

- "Large numbers" were procured in April 2023 for use with the SPIKE-NLOS systems * -

Paskhas The Kopasgat (, Quick Reaction Forces Command) is the air force infantry and special forces corps of the Indonesian Air Force. The corps is also known as the Orange Berets ( in Indonesian) from the colour of their service headgear. Kopasgat i ...

- Orbiter-2B * - Irish Army - Orbiter-2B * -

Israeli Sea Corps The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea theater. The current command ...

* - Mexican Federal Police

PEMEX Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexico, Mexican State ownership, state-owned Petroleum industry, petroleum corporation managed and operated by the government of Mexico, ...

- Orbiter-2B * -

Peruvian Army The Peruvian Army (, abbreviated EP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in s ...

* -

Polish Land Forces The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history str ...

and

Polish Special Forces The Special Troops Command () is the special forces Command (military formation), command of the Polish Armed Forces (SZ RP). The command was formed in 2007 and is the fourth military branch of the SZ RP. Composition The Special Troops Command (' ...

- 11 sets delivered - Orbiter-2B * -

Serbian Army The Serbian Army () is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. Its organization, composition, weapons and equipment are adapted to the assigned missions and tasks of the Serbian Armed Forces, primarily for operatio ...

- 10 sets * -

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the aerial service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air support to the Army and Navy. It was establis ...

- Orbiter-4 * -

South African National Defence Force The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The Chief of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Minister of ...

* -

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

- Orbiter-3. * -

Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy (Abbreviation, Abrv: RTN, ทร.; , ) is the Navy, naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known as the father of the Royal N ...

* - Orbiter 2B * - Orbiter-4 * - 3 on order * - Witnessed in the Ukrainian skies on November 17, 2022 * ** Vietnam People's Ground Force - Orbiter 2 - Orbiter 3 **

Vietnam People's Navy The Vietnam People's Navy (VPN; ), internally the Naval Service (), also known as the Vietnamese People's Navy or simply Vietnam/Vietnamese Navy (), is the naval branch of the Vietnam People's Army and is responsible for the protection of the ...

- Orbiter 2

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Unmanned military aircraft of Israel

Orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, ...

Single-engined pusher aircraft High-wing aircraft Tailless aircraft

Accidents and incidents

Operational history

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Operators

References

External links