The Spanish army is to deploy its Israel Aerospace Industries Searcher II unmanned air vehicles to Afghanistan next month to support ground units working as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
The UAVs will be deployed following the installation of a secure datalink capability, say sources.
Teamed with EADS Casa, IAI has supplied four Searcher II systems to the Spanish army under an intelligence-gathering programme contracted last year.
The UAV has an 8.5m (27.8ft) wing span, a mission radius of 300km (162nm), an endurance of up to 20h and a maximum take-off weight of 436kg (960lb), including a 120kg payload.
- Flight's UAV channel
Source: FlightGlobal.com
