A US warplane shot down a pro-regime UAV in Syria on Thursday 9th after it fired at coalition forces, officials said, marking a new escalation of tensions in the war-torn country’s south. Although the weapon the UAV deployed had hit only dirt, the action was nevertheless “clearly meant” as an attack, as the UAV had fired on coalition forces patrolling outside the zone.
No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred near the coalition’s At-Tanaf garrison close to the Jordanian border, spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon told Pentagon reporters, but the UAV"was armed and still had weapons on it when it was fired upon by US forces from an aircraft,” he said. “Regardless of what kind of drone it was, it fired upon our coalition forces, and therefore showed hostile intent, and it was perceived as a threat,". The UAV was about the same size as a MQ-1 Predator, and it was not immediately clear who owned the aircraft or whether it may have been Iranian.
According to the army, there has been a 5% increase in motivation –as measured by requests – of female recruits as compared to last year’s enlistment, and the army is expecting a spike in female combat recruits in 2017 which will see over 2,500 female combat soldiers enlisting, a senior IDF officer in the Manpower Directorate told the Jerusalem Post. But one of the main challenges for the next generation of pilots is to train for the next war which will be completely different than in the past. Female pilots need to be very strong mentally to finish their course and “overcome all obstacles that may be in front of you,” he said.
Not in vain, a recent Defense Ministry report by IDF Ombudsman, Yitzhak Brick, found a significant decrease in the motivation of women to serve in combat positions. According to Brick, there is a discrepancy between the expectations of soldiers and the reality they face once placed in operational battalions which led to the decrease in the motivation of fighters. However, the senior Manpower Directorate officer disagreed with the findings of the report, telling the Post that the motivation in female combat soldiers continues to increase as well as the need for them to fill positions that have opened up due to the shortening of army service. “There is a significant jump in the recruitment of women into combat roles, and this is all due to their motivation to serve in those positions,” he said, adding that 15% of women volunteer to serve as long as their male counterparts. “That’s something we didn’t see in previous years. We should have put women in these roles even if we didn’t shorten the service period,” he said, stressing that the army “gives them the opportunity and they succeed. With women enlisting in increasingly greater numbers for IDF combat positions, a female Israel Air Force squadron commander is not far off."
Dos FIM-92JStinger han sido lanzados desde una plataforma de defensa aérea de bajo nivel, destruyendo con éxito dos UAVs Outlaw (MQM-170C) y otro UAV más pequeño cuya marca y modelo no han sido revelados.
El FIM-92J conserva la misma capacidad de ojiva de impacto directo del modelo E, pero se actualiza con una sección de fusibles de proximidad, equipado con detectores de proximidad y una antena desarrollada por Lockheed Martin que incorpora un nuevo motor de vuelo y cartuchos generadores de gas.
El FIM-92 Stinger es un misil tierra-aire rastreador infrarrojo fabricado por Raytheon Missile Systems, y entró en servicio en 1981. El misil Stinger básico ha sido hasta la fecha responsable de 270 naves derribadas confirmadas, la primera de ellas un FMA IA-58 Pucará durante la Guerra de las Malvinas.
El misil es lanzado por un pequeño motor de eyección que lo empuja a una distancia segura del operador antes de activar el motor principal de dos fases de combustible sólido el cual lo acelera a una velocidad máxima de Mach 2,2 (750 m/s). La cabeza de 3 kg actúa por impacto y tiene un temporizador de autodestrucción. Puede atacar naves aéreas a una distancia de 5.500 metros y alturas de 3.800 m. También puede ser lanzado desde un vehículo M-1097 Avenger entre otros. El misil mide 152 cm de longitud y 70 mm de diámetro con aletas de 100 mm. El misil por sí solo pesa 10,1 kg mientras que el lanzador armado con su proyectil pesa 15,2 kg.
“Esta demostración ha revelado los resultados del trabajo conjunto que el Ejército de Estados Unidos, Raytheon y Lockheed Martin han realizado para conseguir un efectivo sistema de protección capaz de alcanzar cualquier tipo de UAV mediante un misil Stinger”, dijo Jack Elliot, Director de Programa de Stinger en Raytheon Missile Systems.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a world leader in proven, reliable remotely piloted aircraft and tactical reconnaissance radars, as well as advanced high-resolution surveillance systems.
They have an exciting opportunity for a UAV Pilot at their El Mirage Facility near Palmdale,serving as PIC (Pilot-in-Command) of assigned UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles).
General Atomics Systems Integration LLC (GA-SI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a provider of military and commercial engineering services.
GA-SI is a leading-edge expert in systems integration technologies, reliability improvements, and controls system design.
They currently have an exciting opportunity for an experienced A&P Specialist for their Aero Services division to support MQ-9 Reaper operations based out of Creech AFB in Indian Springs, Nevada.
AMONG OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Works under limited supervision providing technical support for the mechanical installation, troubleshooting and inspection on UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).
Performs scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on UAVs.
As leader in defense and heavy electronic warfare, the world has for many years looked to Israel for security and intelligence, and Israel’s defense industry has got leading international companies exporting to countries across the globe.
It is the case of ORAD, an Israeli company based in Holon. According to Yossi Gofer, vice president of sales and marketing at the company, its Drone Defense System DROM is the “most capable and cost-effective” system to counter the threat posed by hostile UAVs.
ORAD has already sold the system to clients in several countries including Portugal, Spain and Thailand. ¿Its main advantage? the cost reduction: Of course there are missile systems capable to shoot down a hostile UAV, but at $3 million per missile, this is an expensive way to down a device that may only be worth $200: As far as I remember, in August 2014, a Patriot missile shot down a drone that entered Israeli airspace from the Quneitra region in Syria close to the Israeli border. But the scene got worse two years after, when in July 2016, two Patriot missiles were fired at a hostile UAV that crossed into Israeli airspace from Syria: Both missed their target and the unmanned aircraft returned to Syria. Probably the Israel enemies still are remembering it and laughing.
Technically, the DROM has a weight of just 38 kilograms and comes pre-engineered and pre-assembled to be easily deployed on land or at sea in any weather conditions, to detect an approaching UAV at more than 3.5 kilometers away and take its control. Very useful to fight against the Islamic State, that has used weaponized drones against both Syrian and Iraqi forces, and groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, who have sent UAVs into Israel and are said to have been working on upgrading the group’s UAVs for use in both offensive operations and intelligence gathering.
The latest version of the system also comes with an RF Detection Unit, that detects the presence of a UAV by analyzing signaling channels and radio transmissions. Once a UAV is detected, an alarm is automatically triggered and alerts the system operator of the UAV presence, to land it in a pre-defined location after intercepting it so any intelligence that may have been gathered does not fall into the hands of the enemy.
