In its campaign against Israel, Hezbollah uses—alongside its missile arsenal—cheap and easy-to-operate weapons for the purpose of intelligence gathering and striking IDF soldiers stationed in outposts and civilian facilities in northern communities. These include explosive drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). One of the most notable and severe incidents was a strike by a fiber-optic-guided drone in an area where a group of soldiers from Battalion 77 of the 7th Brigade was stationed—an incident that resulted in the death of Sgt. Idan Fuchs.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and drones have several inherent advantages: They are compact and simple to operate, possess high maneuverability, and can penetrate areas with very small openings. They are also capable of low-altitude flight, exploiting complex terrain to evade early detection and interception attempts. Their low cost enables the mass production of thousands of drones and their deployment as attacking swarms. UAVs also have long loitering times and low radar cross-sections, resulting both from their geometric profile and from their non-metallic construction materials. These characteristics make early detection and interception more difficult.
Recently, as part of lessons learned from the war between Russia and Ukraine, Hezbollah has begun operating FPV (first person view) explosive drones—fast and highly maneuverable drones carrying explosive payloads of several kilograms. These drones are typically operated by a single operator using virtual reality technologies, allowing the operator to see the route to the target and the terrain as if “riding” the drone and viewing the landscape from a bird’s-eye perspective. This capability enables the operator to exert maximum control over the drone’s flight path, guiding it to accurately strike stationary or moving targets. To prevent disruption of communication between the operator and the drone through electronic warfare, Hezbollah has recently been using fiber-optic-guided drones, which are immune to communication jamming and, due to the absence of an electronic signature, also cannot be traced back to their launch point. Since kinetic interception or communication jamming is not relevant in the case of fiber-optic-guided FPV drones, the US military is implementing the spectral domain—using high-power electromagnetic radiation sources (“microwave guns”) to damage and “cook” electronic systems and cameras onboard the drones, thereby disrupting their operation.
In its campaign against Israel, Hezbollah uses—alongside its missile arsenal—cheap and easy-to-operate weapons for the purpose of intelligence gathering and striking IDF soldiers stationed in outposts and civilian facilities in northern communities. These include explosive drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). One of the most notable and severe incidents was a strike by a fiber-optic-guided drone in an area where a group of soldiers from Battalion 77 of the 7th Brigade was stationed—an incident that resulted in the death of Sgt. Idan Fuchs.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and drones have several inherent advantages: They are compact and simple to operate, possess high maneuverability, and can penetrate areas with very small openings. They are also capable of low-altitude flight, exploiting complex terrain to evade early detection and interception attempts. Their low cost enables the mass production of thousands of drones and their deployment as attacking swarms. UAVs also have long loitering times and low radar cross-sections, resulting both from their geometric profile and from their non-metallic construction materials. These characteristics make early detection and interception more difficult.
Recently, as part of lessons learned from the war between Russia and Ukraine, Hezbollah has begun operating FPV (first person view) explosive drones—fast and highly maneuverable drones carrying explosive payloads of several kilograms. These drones are typically operated by a single operator using virtual reality technologies, allowing the operator to see the route to the target and the terrain as if “riding” the drone and viewing the landscape from a bird’s-eye perspective. This capability enables the operator to exert maximum control over the drone’s flight path, guiding it to accurately strike stationary or moving targets. To prevent disruption of communication between the operator and the drone through electronic warfare, Hezbollah has recently been using fiber-optic-guided drones, which are immune to communication jamming and, due to the absence of an electronic signature, also cannot be traced back to their launch point. Since kinetic interception or communication jamming is not relevant in the case of fiber-optic-guided FPV drones, the US military is implementing the spectral domain—using high-power electromagnetic radiation sources (“microwave guns”) to damage and “cook” electronic systems and cameras onboard the drones, thereby disrupting their operation.