UVision Air is graded L3 · Operational in the Israeli Defence-AI Deployment Index. The grade records that a named public source reports the system has been used by a military in actual operations, and the source here is Janes, which reported that the IDF was using the company's mini loitering munition. UVision loitering munitions also carry the largest publicly announced order value of any company in the index, which makes this entry a useful illustration of why contract size and evidence grade are separate things.
What the company builds
A loitering munition is an aircraft that does not come back. UVision's HERO range consists of small tube-launched aircraft, each carrying a warhead, a camera and a data link. The launch tube can be carried by a soldier, mounted on a vehicle or fixed in place.
Once launched, the munition flies to an area and circles. Its camera sends video back to an operator's console over a radio link. The operator watches, identifies something on the screen, and directs the aircraft onto it. Published descriptions consistently note that the attack run can be broken off and the munition redirected, which is the design feature that distinguishes the category from a one-way drone that commits at launch.
The family is numbered by size. HERO-30 is the smallest, around three kilograms, man-portable, electrically powered, with an endurance measured in tens of minutes and a range that varies with the communications fit. HERO-120 is substantially larger and heavier and is the model at the centre of the company's American and European business. Larger variants exist.
The autonomy in these systems is bounded and it is worth being exact about where it sits. The aircraft handles flight: navigation to the loiter area, holding a pattern, and the terminal run once locked. What the published record describes is an operator identifying the target on a video feed and committing the munition to it. The vocabulary for distinguishing that arrangement from fuller autonomy is set out in this project's definitions work.
What the public record shows
- Janes — reported that the IDF was using UVision's mini loitering munition. This is the source the index cites and the basis of the grade.
- Shephard Media — reported that the HERO-30 had entered service in Israel following procurement by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, after a period of evaluation and trials.
- European Security & Defence, October 2025 — reported that the US Army awarded Mistral Inc and UVision Inc a multi-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for HERO-120 under the Lethal Unmanned System programme, valued at up to $982 million, with initial deliveries expected in early 2026.
- Calcalist CTech — reported an additional US Army order worth more than $50 million for HERO-120 munitions and support equipment, drawn against that programme.
- European Security & Defence, November 2025 — reported that Rheinmetall received an order from an unnamed NATO customer for several hundred HERO systems, in the low three-digit-million-euro range, with production in Italy by RWM Italia supported by UVision and deliveries running from the first quarter of 2026.
- Rheinmetall, 26 November 2025 — the manufacturer's own announcement of the same NATO order. Partner-sourced rather than independent.
How the grade was assigned
The index asks a single question: has a named public source, independent of the vendor, reported military operational use. Janes answered it, and Shephard Media's report of Israeli Ministry of Defense procurement and entry into service corroborates the procurement half of the picture.
The far larger part of the public record is contractual, and under the grading rules contracts do not raise a grade above L2 no matter how large they are. A $982 million ceiling on a US Army IDIQ is the single biggest figure attached to any company in this index, and on its own it would have produced exactly the same grade as a small European order. What moved UVision to L3 was a Janes report, not a billion-dollar programme. Readers comparing companies across the index should hold that comparison in mind.
What is not established
The index does not connect UVision products to any named operation, strike or casualty event. A considerable volume of published material does make such connections. This entry excludes all of it, on the standing basis explained in the no-strike-attribution rule. What is recorded here is procurement and reported use, and nothing downstream of that.
The NATO customer behind the Rheinmetall order is not named in any source reviewed. Neither is the split of value between UVision and its partners on the American and European programmes. IDIQ ceilings are not obligations: $982 million is the maximum the US Army may order over the life of the vehicle, not a sum committed, and the only firm figure in the record is the follow-on order reported at more than $50 million.
Performance is outside the record entirely. There are no independent trial results, no published reliability data, and no comparative evaluation against other loitering munitions available to a reader. The company's founding date and registered address are not stated consistently enough in public sources for this entry to assert them.
Autonomous air systems category context
UVision is one of three L3 entries among the seven companies in the autonomous air systems category, which is the most evidence-rich air category in the index and also the one where the definitional lines are hardest to hold. Reconnaissance drones, one-way attack drones and loitering munitions are grouped and separated differently by almost every source. How this index draws those lines is set out in the Israeli autonomous air systems pillar.
The closest comparison inside the index is XTEND, which approaches small tactical air systems from the operator-supervision side rather than the munition side and reached L3 through a different evidentiary route. All thirteen operational-grade entries appear in the documented operational use list, and the full fifty are published on the index page.
Frequently asked questions
Is a loitering munition an autonomous weapon?
Published descriptions of the HERO family describe an operator viewing a video feed, identifying a target and committing the munition to it, with the option to break off. On that account target selection rests with a human. No source reviewed here describes autonomous target selection by these systems.
How large is UVision's US Army contract?
European Security & Defence reported a multi-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity award to Mistral and UVision valued at up to $982 million under the Lethal Unmanned System programme. That figure is a ceiling. A follow-on order reported at more than $50 million is the firm amount in the public record.
Who else manufactures the HERO munitions?
Rheinmetall produces HERO systems in Italy through its RWM Italia subsidiary with UVision's support, under an order from an unnamed NATO customer reported in November 2025. In the United States, UVision Inc works with Mistral Inc on the US Army programme.
Sources
- idf.ai, The Israeli Defense-AI Deployment Index v1.0, 24 August 2026
- Janes, IDF using UVision mini loitering munition
- Shephard Media, Hero-30 enters service in Israel
- European Security & Defence, Mistral and Uvision awarded IDIQ US Army contract for Hero-120 loitering munitions, October 2025
- Calcalist CTech, UVision wins additional $50 million-plus U.S. Army order for HERO 120 loitering munitions
- European Security & Defence, Rheinmetall receives major order for Hero loitering munitions from NATO customer, November 2025
- Rheinmetall, Rheinmetall supplies HERO loitering munitions to NATO customers (manufacturer announcement), 26 November 2025
Independent publication of idf.ai. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli Ministry of Defense, or any government body. Compiled entirely from publicly published sources. No classified, restricted or non-public information. Listed companies may dispute any entry: send the published source that contradicts it and the entry will be amended or removed.