DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by Ministerial Support and Public Affairs, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999, Fax: 02 6265 1545
MSPA 512/2010
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Return to Flight Status after
Temporary suspension of flying
Australia’s Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have returned to flight after
flying of all Heron UAVs was temporarily suspended for 24 hours on 1 November.
Contractor MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), suspended flying its fleet of
Heron aircraft worldwide temporarily as a precautionary measure, pending advice
from the manufacturer, Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), following a series of
landing gear malfunctions.
Flight suspension of the Heron aircraft had minimal impact on Australian operations
in Afghanistan.
A previous incident involving a landing gear malfunction caused minor damage to an
Australian Heron aircraft on 28 September after the landing gear in the nose failed to
deploy.
Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: 02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664
NEWS 
