Israel races to stop growing threat from drones

JERUSALEM — On April 27, personnel with the Israel Defense Forces downed a drone that crossed into the country from Lebanon. They also found a second drone “belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” that had been taken down in early April, according to an IDF statement. It was the latest Israeli targeting of a drone — yet more evidence of an emerging threat that Israel is looking to counter.

The most recent incident came the same day that Israel’s national security adviser visited Washington for a meeting with his counterpart, Jake Sullivan. The U.S. and Israel agreed to establish an interagency working group to focus particular attention on the growing threat of UAVs, per a readout of the meeting. Since 2018, the U.S., with congressional support, has backed Israeli efforts to acquire technology for countering unmanned aerial systems.

Israel’s large defense companies make c-UAS systems and combine their expertise to benefit Israel’s multilayered air…