On Sunday, a Hezbollah drone struck a base outside of Binyamina, killing 4 soldiers and injuring 60 people.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Although Israel has relied on defense systems such as the Iron Dome to keep its population safe from missile and rocket attacks, low-flying, small drones, and UAVs, such as the one responsible for the deadly strike at a military base on Sunday, pose a new challenge for Israel’s military.
On Sunday, a Hezbollah drone struck a base outside of Binyamina, killing 4 soldiers and injuring 60 people.
The drone responsible was a a Sayyad 107 model manufactured in Iran and supplied to Hezbollah.
It is an elusive drone that can be programmed to change direction and easily evade detection.
The Sayyad 107 has a range of up to 100 kilometers, is low-flying, and has a faint signal that often eludes radar detection.
Hezbollah launched these drones along with rockets to confuse Israel’s defense systems using a variety of different aerial weapons.
Iron Dome managed to intercept one of the drones, but the other disappeared and couldn’t be tracked by military helicopters and fighter jets.
The IDF is launching an investigation to discover why military jets and helicopters could not detect the drones.
It is believed that the drones were programmed to vary their altitude and switch to a low-flying mode that would allow them to fly under the radar.
Hezbollah has become more adept at using advanced drones and UAVs and has managed to cause civilian casualties in its nearly constant attacks against Israel since October 8th.
It is estimated that Israel intercepts over half of the drones and UAVs launched into Israel.
The Iranian-made drones are also able to stay on course and strike their targets even when faced with GPS jamming.
The solution for detecting and intercepting these advanced, light, low-flying drones could lie in the laser-based system Israel is developing for use on vehicles and on the ground. This technology will be fully operational in mid-2025.
Until then, Israel’s military will have to remain vigilant in dealing with these advanced drones.