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Flight operations with the ADS 15 in Switzerland have been temporarily suspended following an incident involving the Indian armed forces

Swiss Government

Bern, 15.01.2025 -- Flight operation with the reconnaissance drone system (ADS 15) of the Swiss Armed Forces has been temporarily suspended following an incident with a Hermes 900 HFE drone in India.

The manufacturer of the reconnaissance drone system (ADS 15) of the Swiss Armed Forces, Elbit Systems, informed armasuisse of a technical incident with a drone of the same type. During test flights in India, the drone was steered to an emergency landing point in a controlled manner following an incident and was damaged.

As is customary in such cases in aviation, flight operation of the respective aircraft type (Hermes 900) will be suspended globally until the cause of the crash has been clarified. This also affects all Swiss drones, which is why flight operation with the ADS 15 has been suspended until the matter has been clarified. It is estimated that the training and test flights with the drone in Switzerland will thus be interrupted for three weeks.

armasuisse takes the incident very seriously and is in close contact with the Military Aviation Authority of the Armed Forces and the manufacturer Elbit Systems. The next steps will be decided jointly to approve operation of the drone again at a later point in time. Security is the first priority.