Role & capabilities
- Reconnaissance
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Elbit Systems
- Origin / production countries
- Israel
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Land-based aircraft programme; Maritime Apparatus — July 2026 integration concept
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Supplier reports customer testing; July 2026 ship concept does not establish operational maritime acceptance.
Hermes 650 Spark is Elbit’s newer tactical surveillance aircraft, using a front-mounted engine and short-runway architecture. A May 2024 manufacturer account reports customer testing without naming the customer. That supports a development record, not an invented operational fleet.
The current product page describes a two-hundred-and-sixty-kilogram useful-load allowance and modular payload locations. Useful load should not automatically be equated to sensor payload excluding fuel. The twenty-four-hour duration and three-hundred-kilometre line-of-sight link also describe different performance limits.
In July 2026 Elbit described a concept involving converted commercial vessels carrying multiple Spark aircraft. This is retained as a maritime integration concept, separate from evidence of an operational drone carrier. The same air vehicle remains classified in the air domain. A named acceptance source and configuration-specific loading statement would allow the maturity and technical fields to be strengthened.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Fixed wing with front-mounted engine | Spark architecture. Source |
| Launch / recovery | Short-runway take-off and landing | Aircraft feature; maritime deployment remains a concept. Source |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Endurance | Up to 24 hours | Supplier maximum. Source |
| Range | 300 km line-of-sight datalink; SATCOM option | Communications limits, not ferry range. Source |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Altitude | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Payload | 260 kg useful-load allowance | Useful load is not assumed to be sensor payload excluding fuel. Source |
| Sensors | EO/IR/SWIR, radar and electronic-intelligence options | Configuration-dependent. Source |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.