The Philippine Air Force (PAF) will no longer fly the remaining eight Hermes 900 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) after one of them crashed in Misamis Oriental on Saturday.
According to Philippine Air Force spokesperson Col Maynard Mariano, the entire fleet was grounded as the investigation continued.
“This is being investigated, and the fleet of Hermes 900 is temporarily being grounded for the purpose of inspection and investigation, other than that, the aircraft that landed somewhere in Bukidnon is about 1.5 nautical miles from the station in Lumbia is currently recovered, and being brought inside Lumbia as we speak,” he said.
Lack of communication with the ground station is now the focus of the investigation.
“We are narrowing down the cause of the lost of communication or loss of connectivity between between the aircraft that is the unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground station, dito na po nakatuton ang ating imbestigasyon,” said Mariano.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, the UAV flew to Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City for a check flight.
It reached 10,000 feet before descending 5,000 feet at a distance of 1.5 miles from Lumbia Airport.
“At around 11:46 a.m., communications with the UAV were cut. All emergency procedures were performed, and field service representatives were called for troubleshooting,” the Philippine Air Force said in an earlier statement.
No one was hurt or damaged property in the crash of the UAV.
Philippine Air Force halts flight of Hermes 900 UAV fleet
The Philippine Air Force uses UAVs to conduct aerial surveillance in disaster-stricken areas and government counter-insurgency operations.
“The unmanned aerial vehicles are also doing assessments on deforestation, pag-monitor po ng coastal areas natin, and maritime patrol,” said Mariano.
Mariano assured that this would not affect the operation of the Philippine Air Force.
“It will not affect our operations because we have a fleet of Hermes 450 and other systems that can take its place as of the moment,” he said.
The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 Kochav (“Star”) is a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a medium-size, multi-payload, medium-altitude, long-endurance payload. It is the successor to the Hermes 450 series of military drones, one of the most commonly utilized globally.
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