Berlin, Jan 29, IRNA — Israel is to train German soldiers on operating Heron 1 drones in Afghanistan, a German defense ministry spokesman told journalists in Berlin on Friday.
The six-week Israeli training package includes also the maintenance of the drones which are to be used in Afghanistan in March, Steffen Moritz said.
The leased unmanned aircraft which is jointly built by Israel and Germany, will be used for aerial reconnaissance missions in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz where thousands of German soldiers are deployed as part of the NATO-led mission.
The German spy drone can fly for up to 3.5 hours and has flying range of
100 kilometers.
Equipped with cameras and infrared as well as radar sensors, Heron 1 has reportedly been used by the Jewish state to kill Palestinians in Gaza and the 2006 Lebanon war.
Israel has also signed a 100-million euro lease agreement with Canada to use the drones in Afghanistan.
The Zionist state has used unmanned aircraft since the early 1970s for deadly surveillance and reconnaissance missions in Gaza, the West Bank
and Lebanon.
Drones have reportedly become such an integral part of Israel’s air power that their flight hours now outnumber those of manned fighter jets.
The unmanned aircraft are guided by remote control from the ground.
Because of their small size and relatively low speed, their low-yield missiles can be aimed precisely.
Israel and the US are reportedly the only countries in the world to operate unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, for both surveillance and to fire lethal missiles.