The IAI Heron (Machatz-1) is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Malat (UAV) division of Israeli Aerospace Industries. It is capable of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) operations of up to 52 hours' duration at up to 35,000 feet (10.67 kilometer). It has demonstrated 52 hours of continuous flight, but the effective operational maximal flight duration is less, according to payload and flight profile. There is a new version, Heron TP, also known as IAI Eitan.
On September 11th, 2005, it was announced that the Israel Defense Forces purchased $50 million worth of Heron systems.
