Senior IDF officer calls for urgent upgrade to combat drones amid security failures

In Binyamina, a Hezbollah drone struck a dining hall at a Golani brigade training base, killing four and wounding 60.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A senior IDF official called for an urgent upgrade in short-range aerial defense capabilities following a deadly drone strike last week at a training base in Binyamina.

In addition, a Hezbollah drone attempted to strike the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea and hit a nearby building with no alarms heard in the area.

“The Israel Air Force has not built a proper force to deal with drone threats on such a large scale, despite the significant successes in the North,” Walla quoted a senior reserve officer as saying on Thursday.

The senior officer described the situation as “a fundamental issue” and pointed out that in many situations, four fighter helicopters and a missile ship are needed to chase just one drone.

“We knew this, just like the IAF didn’t develop its ground support capabilities for the border forces well enough. On the other hand, it developed its long-range fighting capabilities across seven different theaters quite impressively,” he continued.

Last week, a Hezbollah drone struck a dining hall in a Golani brigade training base, killing four and wounding 60.

A baffling aspect of the incident is that the military tracked the drone, tried to intercept it, and reported it had fallen into the sea when, in reality, it had penetrated layers of defense.

Civilians had spotted the drones in the sky, but no warnings and sirens were heard.

“No defense system is completely airtight, even with advanced technologies,” says Dr. Liran Antebi, a senior visiting researcher at the Yuval Ne’eman Workshop at Tel Aviv University and a global expert on drones and UAVs.

However, Antebi emphasized the need for Israel’s military to expedite the search for solutions for drone and UAV defense given the fact that Israel’s enemies are catching up with UAV technology.

Antebi said, “The other side is improvising and achieving capabilities that were once exclusive to official nations, integrating them in ways that challenge our defense systems.”

Antebi recommended, “I would strengthen the country’s protection and establish protocols for more immediate and frequent defense drills at all bases, as they are the main focus of the threat. We’ve seen firsthand what happens in these situations.”