The Swiss Parliament has authorized the procurement of new unmanned air vehicles from Israel, with 30 votes for and 12 against. The controversial plan will lead to the acquisition of six Hermers 900 drones from Elbit Systems, with a cost of CHF250 mil. (USD256 mil.).

The procurement has seen the opposition’s resistance due to the use of the drones by Israel during the Gaza War in 2014. However, the Swiss Defence Minister Ueli Maurer has defended the contract stating that the air vehicles will be procured by a private company, not from the State of Israel, and that they will be unarmed. Therefore, they will only be used for surveillance operations by the Swiss Border Guards.

The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 is medium altitude long endurance UAV for tactical missions. It flies at altitudes of up to 30,000 ft for up to 30 hours. It carries a payload of surveillance and reconnaissance sensors, and could also be equipped with weapons for ground attack missions.