Thales, IAI Flight Test NATO-Standard Data Link on Heron
The companies said they conducted risk reduction flight tests in Israel of a Heron UAV equipped with a Thales-Elisra data link system.
Israel Aerospace Industries featured its latest Super Heron variant in front of its chalet at the Paris Air Show in June. (Photo: Bill Carey)

Israel Aerospace Industries and France’s Thales have flown IAI’s Heron unmanned aircraft with a Thales-Elisra datalink that conforms with the NATO standard for real-time data transmission. Infrared and daylight videos were transmitted in real time to a ground control station during flight testing in Israel, the companies said July 7.


In a joint effort, Thales’s TMA 6000 datalink terminal and Elisra radio frequency modules and antennas were fitted on the Heron, a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV operated by 15 countries, including Israel, Australia, Canada, France and Germany. The TMA 6000 complies with NATO STANAG 7085, the waveform standard for real-time transmission of videos, images and other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data from on-board sensors to dedicated ground stations. The terminal provides data throughput capability up to 137 Mb/s, according to Thales.


“This compliance ensures NATO interoperability and guarantees radio frequency authorization in full alignment with the International Telecommunications Union regulation, as well as high resistance to jamming and interception,” the companies said.


At the Paris Air Show in June, IAI also announced that it will improve the capabilities of the Heron TP multi-purpose variant by integrating a high-definition, multispectral M-19HD sensor payload developed by its Tamam Division. The M-19 HD had completed flight tests on both manned and unmanned platforms, the company said.