Israel tests drone defense in ‘groundbreaking event’

Israel has organized a competition in an attempt to find new ways to swat away incoming drones. It’s another reminder of the serious challenges that cheap, often simple, unmanned technology poses to militaries around the world.

Senior Israeli government and military officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, led what Israel’s Defense Ministry called a “first of its kind” trial on Monday at an unspecified location in southern Israel. It is designed to help locate technology tailored to intercepting incoming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Israel has an advanced network of air defense systems, including the famous Iron Dome missile system that can intercept incoming short-range attacks at a range of about 70 kilometers, or just over 40 miles. Other systems work in conjunction with the Iron Dome to intercept attacks at varying distances and heights. The David’s Sling and Arrow systems are intended to take out rockets and missiles from further away.

However, despite Israel’s sophisticated web of air defense systems, relatively low-tech, cheap drones sent into northern Israel by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah have proven difficult to combat.

The Iran-backed political party and influential militant group have been exchanging fire with Israel for more than a year, and the Israelis have been conducting ground operations in southern Lebanon for more than two weeks. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has extensively attacked Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, with airstrikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and commanders.

When Newsweek While visiting northern Israel in mid-September, IDF Lieutenant Colonel Dotan Razili told reporters at a field briefing about five miles from the border with Lebanon that Israel faced a “challenge” in locating and shooting down Hezbollah’s low-cost drones.

Interceptor missiles fired from air defense systems generally dwarf the cost of acquiring and deploying an attack drone.

Asked whether the northern forces have enough low-tech solutions for Hezbollah drones, Razili said: “Not as much as we would like.”

This was said by an Israeli industry source Newsweek last month, all defense companies in Israel were working on a solution for cheap drone attacks. Another said this could also include looking back at older systems.

Fighters in Ukraine have successfully used machine guns and large-caliber equipment, such as the German-made Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, to down the Shahed attack drones, originally designed and supplied by Iran, which Russia has consistently used against Ukraine.

“The UAV threat is a multi-arena threat emanating from Iran, which supplies UAVs to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, and even launches them itself,” Gallant said in a statement.

In April, Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in its first-ever direct attack on Israelis from Iranian territory. In another large-scale attack, Tehran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles into Israel in early October.

To counter the threat from UAVs, Gallant said Tuesday that Israel must “focus the national efforts of all agencies dealing with this problem to quickly arrive at operational solutions.”

“Countering the UAV threat is a critical national priority,” said Eyal Zamir, Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Defense.

The IDF said earlier this week that a UAV launched by Hezbollah had killed four Israeli soldiers in an “army base adjacent to Binyamina,” a town located between the northern Israeli cities of Netanya and Haifa.

Representatives from top Israeli defense names, including Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), took part, the Israeli government said. Smaller start-up companies were also invited.

The prototypes shown during the trial were developed under the supervision of Israel’s Defense Research and Development Directorate, which falls under the Ministry of Defense and the IDF.

Solutions chosen for their promise after this “groundbreaking event” will be rapidly developed and rapidly operationally tested, Israel’s Ministry of Defense said.

The idea is to deploy new counter-drone technology “within months,” the government said.

“Yesterday’s competition, in which small and large defense industries presented different solutions, from the most advanced to the simple, takes us another step forward,” said Gallant.

Elbit Systems has proposed a system called Iron Hawk by Israel’s Ministry of Defense that uses interceptor drones to neutralize enemy UAVs. IAI brought to the table a system called “Precise Falcon,” as well as an “additional advanced system for long-range interception capabilities.”

The Israeli government said Rafael had demonstrated a system called Typhoon, which could eliminate various threats.