Role & capabilities
- Reconnaissance
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Aeronautics
- Origin / production countries
- Israel
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Conventional launcher/parachute; VTOL kit
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Supplier information is attributed; performance and operational acceptance require configuration-specific evidence.
Orbiter 4 is a modular tactical surveillance aircraft available with conventional launch/recovery equipment or an add-on VTOL kit. The manufacturer’s combined brochure explicitly gives different endurance values for the two configurations. This distinction is central to the profile: vertical launch convenience does not come with the conventional aircraft’s full advertised duration.
The current product pages also list different altitude values for the conventional and VTOL versions. These are retained with their configuration labels, rather than selecting the highest value for the whole family. The supplier now describes integrated satellite communications and additional optical payload choices. Connectivity options do not imply unlimited physical flight range.
Multiple mission sensors may be carried within the aircraft’s limits, but the twelve-kilogram payload allowance is not evidence that every listed sensor can be installed together. Named operator configurations and dated acceptance records would improve the supplier-reported maturity assessment.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Fixed wing with optional VTOL kit | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Launch / recovery | Launcher/parachute or VTOL kit | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | 5.2 m span; 2.2 m length | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Mass | 55 kg maximum take-off | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Endurance | Up to 24 h conventional; 12 h with VTOL kit | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Range | 150 km line-of-sight datalink; BLOS option | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Speed | 70 knots maximum | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Altitude | Conventional page: 18,000 ft; VTOL page: 11,000 ft | Current configuration pages differ; combined brochure ceiling should not be applied unconditionally to VTOL. Source |
| Payload | Up to 12 kg | Current supplier configuration; 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.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.