The inherent advantage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—manifested mainly in flexibility of operation, long activity time, and low cost—allows terrorists, particularly Hezbollah during the current campaign in the North, to use them as effective weapons for attack and intelligence-gathering purposes.
As part of the fighting in the north, Hezbollah uses various types of UAVs for attacks, suicide attacks, and intelligence-gathering purposes. Israel’s air defense copes well with them, but sometimes the UAV’s advantages—slow flight speed at low altitude and low radar signature—“deceive” the detection and defense systems. As a result, and since there is never a hermetic defense, there are occasional infiltrations of UAVs into strategic sites, population concentrations, and military bases for intelligence or attack purposes. Furthermore, in the third week of February 2024, two UAVs infiltrated Israel and unexpectedly hit civilian targets without being detected at all.
Consequently, what are the characteristics of those UAVs that challenge Israel’s security system? These are mainly UAVs made in Iran or China, or they are self-made, based on Iranian know-how. They have been used for over 20 years for a variety of tasks. The most prominent are the long-range attack UAVs (2,000 km) that are capable of staying in the air for a considerable amount of time, such as the Shahed 101, 129, 136 and others that have the capacity to carry loads of up to 150 kg. Hezbollah also has suicide UAVs based on the Ababil 2T model, which carries a 20–40 kg warhead, or its upgraded version, the Mirsad 1, which has a extensive attack range and the ability to carry large explosives.
In addition, Hezbollah has the Ayoub or Mirsad 2 UAVs, which are used for visual and electronic intelligence gathering or for baiting and saturating the detection and attack systems. It is important to remember that the Iranians also have stealth UAVs, and they have also announced the implementation of long-range UAVs that have jet engines. It’s possible that these tools will appear in the battlefield in the future or in a multi-arena conflict.
Without giving away useful information, a possible solution to the situation is to upgrade the electromagnetic and digital dimension and integrate it into appropriate AI systems.
The inherent advantage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—manifested mainly in flexibility of operation, long activity time, and low cost—allows terrorists, particularly Hezbollah during the current campaign in the North, to use them as effective weapons for attack and intelligence-gathering purposes.
As part of the fighting in the north, Hezbollah uses various types of UAVs for attacks, suicide attacks, and intelligence-gathering purposes. Israel’s air defense copes well with them, but sometimes the UAV’s advantages—slow flight speed at low altitude and low radar signature—“deceive” the detection and defense systems. As a result, and since there is never a hermetic defense, there are occasional infiltrations of UAVs into strategic sites, population concentrations, and military bases for intelligence or attack purposes. Furthermore, in the third week of February 2024, two UAVs infiltrated Israel and unexpectedly hit civilian targets without being detected at all.
Consequently, what are the characteristics of those UAVs that challenge Israel’s security system? These are mainly UAVs made in Iran or China, or they are self-made, based on Iranian know-how. They have been used for over 20 years for a variety of tasks. The most prominent are the long-range attack UAVs (2,000 km) that are capable of staying in the air for a considerable amount of time, such as the Shahed 101, 129, 136 and others that have the capacity to carry loads of up to 150 kg. Hezbollah also has suicide UAVs based on the Ababil 2T model, which carries a 20–40 kg warhead, or its upgraded version, the Mirsad 1, which has a extensive attack range and the ability to carry large explosives.
In addition, Hezbollah has the Ayoub or Mirsad 2 UAVs, which are used for visual and electronic intelligence gathering or for baiting and saturating the detection and attack systems. It is important to remember that the Iranians also have stealth UAVs, and they have also announced the implementation of long-range UAVs that have jet engines. It’s possible that these tools will appear in the battlefield in the future or in a multi-arena conflict.
Without giving away useful information, a possible solution to the situation is to upgrade the electromagnetic and digital dimension and integrate it into appropriate AI systems.