2025 Israel-Iran Conflict

Hermes 450 Armed Unmanned Aircraft in the 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict

Israel used Hermes 450/Zik unmanned aircraft during the 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict, with reporting placing them over Tehran for surveillance, target detection, and attacks on IRGC personnel and mobile air-defense launchers.

Weapon profileHermes 450 armed unmanned aircraft
SideIsraelRoleReconnaissance & SurveillanceTargeting SupportInterdiction
Hermes 450 armed unmanned aircraft, Multi-role tactical UAS, Aircraft & UAVs - 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict
Image source: Hermes-450.jpg on Wikimedia Commons

Evidence Map

ClaimSources
Israel used Hermes 450/Zik unmanned aircraft in the 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict.

Sources: Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran, CTech Zik over Tehran, Times of Israel Zik Name

Reported missions over Tehran included surveillance, target detection, and attacks or targeting against IRGC officials and mobile anti-aircraft launchers.

Sources: Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran, CTech Zik over Tehran

The June 2025 conflict context began with Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian ballistic-missile retaliation.

Sources: CRS Israel-Iran Conflict

Public reporting does not identify the specific munition released by a Hermes 450 in Iran; Mikholit is included only as related Hermes-family munition context.

Sources: OSMP Mikholit, Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran

Timeline

Hermes 450 armed unmanned aircraft In 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict

  1. Conflict opens with Israeli strikes on Iran

    CRS reported that Israel began a major military operation against Iran on June 13, 2025, and that Iran retaliated with waves of ballistic missiles.

    Sources: CRS Israel-Iran Conflict

  2. Hermes 450/Zik activity reported over Tehran

    Ynet reported Hermes 450 and other Hermes-family Israeli drones active over Tehran; CTech reported Zik and other Hermes-family drones over Tehran the same Sunday.

    Sources: Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran, CTech Zik over Tehran, Times of Israel Zik Name

  3. Public live-log report describes Zik missions

    CTech's June 16 live log described the Israeli Air Force's Zik and other Hermes-family drones hunting senior IRGC officers and truck-mounted anti-aircraft launchers over Tehran.

    Sources: CTech Zik over Tehran

Documented Use

Direct proof of use

Ynet reported that Israeli Air Force drones, particularly the Hermes 450 and other Elbit Hermes-family models, were active over Tehran during Operation Rising Lion. The report described the drones as targeting senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials and truck-mounted mobile anti-aircraft missile launchers.

CTech's June 16, 2025 Israel-Iran live log separately reported that the Israeli Air Force's Zik and other Hermes-family drones circled over Tehran the previous day while hunting senior Revolutionary Guard officers and mobile anti-aircraft launchers. The Times of Israel identifies Zik, or The Spark, as the Israeli Air Force name for the Hermes 450.

Sources: Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran, CTech Zik over Tehran, Times of Israel Zik Name

Timeline

The conflict began on June 13, 2025, when Israel opened a major operation against Iran and Iran retaliated with ballistic-missile attacks on Israel. Public Hermes 450 reporting appears in the opening days of that campaign, after Israeli strikes and suppression of Iranian air defenses gave Israeli aircraft and unmanned systems broader freedom to operate over Iran.

By June 16, Israeli reporting placed Zik/Hermes-family drones over Tehran on June 15. The reported missions centered on finding and striking senior IRGC personnel and mobile anti-aircraft launchers that threatened Israeli aircraft.

Sources: CRS Israel-Iran Conflict, CTech Zik over Tehran, Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran

Operational role

The sourced role for the Hermes 450 in this conflict is long-range unmanned surveillance, targeting support, and interdiction rather than possession or transfer. Ynet described the drones as helping identify new targets and improve Israeli aircraft target detection over Iran, while CTech tied the same drone activity to a search for mobile air-defense launchers.

Elbit describes the Hermes 450 as a tactical UAS built for multi-role missions with EO/IR/laser and other payload options, ground-control-station operation, and long operational endurance. Those specifications explain the platform category but do not by themselves prove this conflict use; the conflict-use claim rests on the Ynet and CTech reporting.

Sources: Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran, CTech Zik over Tehran, Elbit Hermes 450 Tactical Drone

Munitions and related systems

The public reports used here identify Hermes 450/Zik operations and targets, but they do not name the specific munition released by a Hermes 450 in Iran. OSMP separately documents Mikholit air-delivered bombs in the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict and notes Hermes-family UAV carriage, including a Hermes 900 weapons-pod case in Iran, which makes the Mikholit and Hermes 900 useful related entries without turning them into direct proof of a Hermes 450 strike.

Sources: OSMP Mikholit, Ynet Hermes 450 over Tehran

Related Weapons by Role

Gulfstream G550 Nachshon Eitam, Airborne early warning and control aircraft, Aircraft & UAVsAircraft & UAVsGulfstream G550 Nachshon EitamAirborne early warning and control aircraftThe Gulfstream G550 Nachshon Eitam is Israel's conformal airborne early warning and control version of the G550 business jet, modified by Israel Aerospace Industries and ELTA with the EL/W-2085 AESA radar and mission systems. Operated by Israeli Air Force 122 Squadron, it provides airborne surveillance, battle management, and command-and-control support for air defense and long-range strike operations, including documented use during Iron Swords and the 2025 Israel-Iran conflict.
Hermes 900 unmanned aircraft, Medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, Aircraft & UAVsAircraft & UAVsHermes 900 unmanned aircraftMedium-altitude long-endurance UAVElbit's Hermes 900 Kochav is an Israeli medium-altitude long-endurance UAV family with 36-hour endurance, a 350 kg baseline payload, and modular ISR, electronic-intelligence, communications-relay, maritime-patrol, and wide-area surveillance payload options. First flown in 2009, it entered Israeli combat use during the 2014 Gaza War and has since appeared in Azerbaijani and Israeli conflict documentation, while the StarLiner branch adds civil-airspace certification and heavier payload capacity for non-segregated airspace missions.
IAI Heron UAV, Medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, Aircraft & UAVsAircraft & UAVsIAI Heron UAVMedium-altitude long-endurance UAVThe IAI Heron is an Israeli medium-altitude long-endurance UAV family built for persistent ISR, target acquisition, maritime patrol, and multi-sensor surveillance missions. IAI describes Heron 1, known in Israeli service as Shoval, and Heron Mk II as SATCOM-capable MALE platforms with automatic taxi, takeoff, and landing, while conflict sourcing ties the family to Israeli operations in Gaza and Iran, Azerbaijani reconnaissance and targeting in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Indian Heron Mk II operations during Operation Sindoor.
MQ-9 Reaper, Medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle, Aircraft & UAVsAircraft & UAVsMQ-9 ReaperMedium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicleThe MQ-9 Reaper is a General Atomics medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft built for persistent intelligence collection and precision strike. Larger and more powerful than the MQ-1 Predator, it combines satellite control, electro-optical and infrared sensors, laser designation, and weapons such as Hellfire missiles and guided bombs, making it a recurring U.S. and coalition platform in counterterrorism, maritime-security, and regional-strike operations.
Gulfstream G550 Nachshon Oron, Multi-mission intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance aircraft, Aircraft & UAVsAircraft & UAVsGulfstream G550 Nachshon OronMulti-mission intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance aircraftThe Gulfstream G550 Nachshon Oron is an Israeli special-mission aircraft that adapts a U.S.-built Gulfstream G550 business jet with IAI/ELTA radar, electro-optical, SIGINT, C4I, and AI-assisted processing systems. Operated by Israeli Air Force 122 Squadron, it is documented in wartime intelligence, surveillance, early-warning, and targeting-support roles over Gaza and during Israel's 2025 operations against Iran.
Gulfstream G500 Nachshon Shavit, Signals-intelligence and electronic-reconnaissance aircraft, Aircraft & UAVsAircraft & UAVsGulfstream G500 Nachshon ShavitSignals-intelligence and electronic-reconnaissance aircraftThe Gulfstream G500 Nachshon Shavit is Israel's Gulfstream V/G500-based special electronic missions aircraft, converted for Israeli Air Force 122 Squadron with IAI mission systems for signals intelligence, electronic reconnaissance, and long-range ISR support. Public sources sometimes group the Nachshon fleet under G550 wording, but Shavit-specific imagery and specialist references identify the aircraft as the earlier Gulfstream V/G500 SIGINT member alongside the G550 Eitam and Oron aircraft.
12 more weapons
Back to Hermes 450 armed unmanned aircraftBrowse 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict

Sources