Role & capabilities
- Loitering munition programme
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Loitering munition
- Developer / manufacturer
- Aeronautics
- Origin / production countries
- Israel
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Supplier information is attributed; performance and operational acceptance require configuration-specific evidence.
Orbiter 1K is a loitering-munition design derived from Aeronautics’ Orbiter 2 reconnaissance lineage. The reviewed brochure provides a specific thirteen-kilogram aircraft baseline, optical/infrared sensing and electric propulsion. It remains a separate historical designation from the currently marketed Orbiter 2 LM.
Published figures for Orbiter 1K vary across manufacturer material from different dates. This profile uses the cited brochure’s two-hour and fifty-kilometre values, rather than combining them with higher figures from another promotional post. A dated configuration is more useful than an unexplained selection of maxima.
Shared lineage is not sufficient evidence that two designations are exact aliases. The catalogue therefore preserves both names independently pending an explicit manufacturer mapping. It also separates the aircraft’s recoverable training arrangements from its expendable role, without assuming that every operational configuration carries the same recovery equipment.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Fixed wing | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Electric | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | 2.9 m wingspan | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Mass | 13 kg maximum take-off | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Up to 2 hours | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Range | Up to 50 km mission range | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Speed | 38–50 knots loitering | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | 13,000 ft ASL service ceiling | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Stabilised EO/IR imaging | Current supplier configuration; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
Suggest a correction to this entry →
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.