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UAS in the hands of terror organizations

May 28, 2015

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Terror organizations will further step up their efforts to perform attacks on targets in Israel using a variety of unmanned air systems (UAS). This is the unintelligence assessment of the Israeli defence forces (IDF).

In recent years , such attempts have been made when terror groups used UAS to try and penetrate the Israeli airspace,. These very basic UAS were shot down by the Israeli airforce (IAF) fighter aircraft and ground-air missiles.

During Operation “Protective Edge”, this summer three Hamas UAS from Gaza and another one from Syria tried to infiltrate Israel.

In each one of the cases, the IAF made use of the weapon system that was available and most effective against the target in question.

This threat exists is very imminent and the IAF is therefore required us to be flexible and to adapt to the technological changes and developments in the field of UAS.

The IAF is adapting some of its systems and adding others, to be ready for wide UAS attacks on targets inside Israel in future military confrontations.

UAS flew into Israeli airspace from Lebanon on at least two occasions in 2012 and 2013, apparently on photography missions and to assess the capabilities of the air defences. They were shot down by IAF fighter aircraft

Israeli sources said that the threat , especially from Lebanon may range from radio controlled drones carrying a small explosive load to UAS carrying payloads of hundreds of kgs.

Israel , according to well informed sources believes that the Hezbollah in Lebanon received some heavy UAS made in Iran , the organization’s patron.

The IAF preparedness includes systems that can detects small UAS before they cross the border and systems that can shoot them down immediately after detection.

While the main UAS threat is from Lebanon , the IAF takes into account a similar threat from the Gaza strip. At his stage the Hamas in Gaza is using rockets but the Iranians may try and supply some types of UAS to that organization too.