Drones are slow, small, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. They have become a deadly headache in Israel‘s year-long conflict.
Hezbollah‘s attack on a military base near Binyamina, in northern Israel, on Sunday, that killed four men and injured many more, was the worst drone strike to hit the country so far.
This raises new questions about the effectiveness of Israel’s expensive air defence system in stopping them.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoan Galan, who visited the damaged army base in the morning on Monday, said that “significant efforts” are being made to find solutions to prevent future drone attacks.
Some parts of the air defense system work well. Iron Dome is regularly heard in northern Israel making booms as it intercepts rockets fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. Israel claims to have hit more than 90% its targets.
Iron Dome is effective because Hezbollah rockets are crude. It’s possible to predict where the rockets will land at takeoff and intercept them.
Stopping drones can be more difficult. In this war, has the problem of drones become a recurring one?
In July, a drone fired from Yemen by the Houthis reached Tel Aviv. In October, the Israel Defense Forces reported that a drone launched by Iraq killed two soldiers on the Golan Heights. Just last week, another drone struck a nursing home located in central Israel.
According to the BBC, “Most if not all of the drones manufactured by Iran are then supplied to armed groups in Lebanon Iraq and Yemen”, Dr Yehoshua Kaliksy, senior researcher at the Institute of National Security Studies, Tel Aviv.
Drones are difficult to detect because they have a small signature on radar and can fly low. Sometimes they can be mistaken for birds.
“They are also difficult to intercept using aircraft because UAVs (drones), fly slowly,” Dr Kalisky said. “They’re flying at about 200km/h compared to the 900km/h (559mph of a jet).”
Israeli media reports indicate that on Sunday, two Hezbollah Ziyad 107s crossed from Lebanese space over the Mediterranean. The warning siren did not sound because one drone was shot down, and the other vanished – it is presumed that it crashed. Then, it hit the canteen at an army base.
Sarit Zehani, from the Alma Research Institute (which specializes in security along the northern border), does not believe that it was a matter of luck that the drones made it through.
She said, “It was all planned.” “They’ve tried to do this for quite some time”.
Ms Zehani, who lives in western Galilee 9km from the border with Lebanon, watched Sunday’s events unfold on her balcony. She said that there were alerts and rocket fire all over the border area when the drones launched, “overwhelming the air defence system” and helping the drone get through.
Alma Research Institute counts 559 drone incidents that crossed the northern border to conduct surveillance or attack missions in the year since the war began. It says that, excluding Sunday’s attack in Binyamina there have been 11 drone attacks.
Iron Dome is not the only system designed to destroy ballistics missiles. Arrow 2, Arrow 3 and Adam’s Sling are also available. They will soon be bolstered with the arrival of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system (Thaad), which will be operated and maintained by almost 100 US military personnel.
Currently, more permanent solutions to eliminate drones are being developed.
Dr Kalisky stated that “high powered lasers are currently being developed and the other technology uses microwave cannons in order to burn the drone electronic components.” “These technologies should be available very soon.”
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