Role & capabilities
- Tactical surveillance
- Maritime reconnaissance
- Modular sensor carriage
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Hydra Technologies
- Origin / production countries
- Mexico
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Manufacturer specifications and delivery reporting; a named operator acceptance inventory remains outstanding.
The S45 Báalam is a Mexican tactical remotely piloted aircraft intended for surveillance across military, maritime and public-security missions. Hydra's current product page describes redundant engines and control systems, rather than treating the aircraft as a single-engine commercial drone adapted for a military customer. Its sensor options include imaging cameras and synthetic-aperture radar; this is an available integration portfolio, not evidence that every delivered aircraft carries every sensor.
The current baseline combines a 6.11-metre span with a published payload capacity of 10 kilograms. Hydra advertises up to twelve hours of endurance and describes the 120-kilometre reach as line-of-sight in its news material. That distinction matters when comparing a communications radius with total distance flown.
Hydra reports Central American deliveries and new capabilities presented in 2025, but the reviewed sources do not identify a complete customer-by-customer acceptance register. The S45 therefore remains a supplier-supported service account here. Its figures should not be assigned to the older S4 Ehécatl or the larger S50, which have separate identities and specifications.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Launch / recovery | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Propulsion | Twin gasoline engines | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Dimensions | 6.11 m wingspan | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. 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 12 hours | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Range | Up to 120 km line-of-sight | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Altitude | Up to 17,000 ft above sea level | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Payload | 10 kg | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. 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.
Suggest a correction to this entry
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- S45 current product specifications (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme
- Hydra delivery and FAMEX 2025 news (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme