IDF intercepts Hamas UAV

An Israel Air Force F-16 downed an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to Hamas on Thursday 23th afternoon, intercepting it after it left the Gaza Strip and bringing it down into the sea before it managed to enter Israeli airspace.

Weaponized drones is something “that Israel must prepare for,” Yoram Schweitzer, senior research fellow and head of the Program on Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told in a recent interview.

Hamas and Islamic State have used weaponized drones to carry out attacks: Regarding Hamas, during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, the IDF struck facilities that were being used to develop drones capable of carrying explosives, with the OC Southern Command at the time, Maj.-Gen. Tal Russo, saying that the military destroyed “advanced weaponry like the development of a UAV that isn’t used for photography but for attacks deep inside Israel.”

And regarding Islamic State, recently posted several photos online with instructions on how to weaponize a small quadcopter with an RKG-3 anti-tank stick grenade, RPG-22 one-shot disposable anti-tank rocket launcher, and RPO anti-tank rocket. It has also made dozens of claims of having used drones to drop explosive devices onto Iraqi troops in the ongoing battle for Mosul.

Israel: IAF's PMD Intercepted A Hostile UAV

For the first time, the Patriot Missile Division shot down an UAV that breached Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.

The threat of hostile UAVs has increased since the Second Lebanon War in 2006: In October of 2012, IAF fighter jets intercepted a UAV that breached Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, and approximately a year ago IAF fighter jets intercepted a UAV in the skies above northern Israel after it infiltrated Israeli territory from the Lebanese border. 

Since 2012, there has been a significant upgrade of the Patriot system and an adjustment to deal with the latest challenges, among them the interception of unmanned aerial vehicles: "The 'Patriot' Missile Division is an inseparable part of the IAF's and its talented soldiers' answer to threats such as ground-to-ground missiles", said Colonel Chemi Bar-El, Commander of the "Sky Protection" Branch. "But, in the modern battlefield, the main threat comes from hostile UAVs and hang gliders". 

IDF shoots down drone from Lebanon opposite Haifa coast

 

At around 13:30 P.M., the Air Force control system identified the UAV, and launched fighter jets into the air. An F-16 jet then fired an air-to-air missile and downed the unmanned aircraft. (Read more)