More than a decade ago, in December 2010, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) selected AEL Sistemas (controlled by the Israeli group Elbit Systems) to provide two RQ-450 Hermes unmanned aerial systems (UASs). The aircraft had actually taken to Brazilian skies a year earlier, in December 2009, when a demonstrator arrived at Base Aérea de Santa Maria, in the Rio Grande do Sul state.
![Brazilian RQ-900 [João Paulo Moralez]](https://fullfatthings-keyaero.b-cdn.net/sites/keyaero/files/inline-images/14.08.55.jpg)
This trial must have proved successful, because in May and June 2010 the FAB announced that it would deploy two of the drones within a year (under the direction of the ‘Victor’ working group). Joint evaluations then followed, with the 7th Armoured Infantry Battalion of the Brazilian Army, based in Santa Cruz do Sul.
The evaluation led to a contract for two RQ-450s, signed in January 2011, to be operated by the 1º Esquadrão do 12° Grupo de Aviação (1st/12th Gav, Esquadrão Hórus [Hórus Squadron]), formed three months later and based at Base Aérea de Santa Maria. The air base is also home to the 1° Esquadrão do 10° Grupo de Aviação (1st/10th Gav, Esquadrão Poker [Poker Squadron]), which flies the A…
