An incident on Tuesday where a UAV was shot down in northern Israel after it approached the Israeli border represents a growing drone threat to Israel. An Iranian drone flown from Syria’s T-4 base in February 2018 also penetrated the same area carrying explosives. Israel shot down the Iranian UAV with an Apache helicopter near Beit She’an. Israel has had to contend with growing drone threats during this war in Gaza as well. By Monday, at least six drones had been shot down. Israel used Iron Dome for the first time in combat to take down at least one of the drones. An F-16 shot another down.
The drone threat is increasing and it is modeled on Iran’s drone army, which the Islamic Republic has pioneered over the last decades. Tehran has several lines of military drones, some of which are used for surveillance but many of which are armed. Iran’s drone strategy is to use them like cruise missiles. You pack them with explosives, put a gyroscope and guidance on them,…
