Inexpensive fiber-optic drones are challenging Israel’s high-tech defenses, shifting the military balance in the Middle East.
A recent video showing an explosive-laden drone striking an Israeli Iron Dome battery couldn’t have been more symbolic: Israel’s famous air-defense system, which cost billions of euros, looked powerless against a small aircraft that cost a few hundred euros.
While the video’s authenticity has not yet been verified, experts believe it is genuine.
The footage was published about a week ago by Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based pro-Iranian militia, which Germany, the US and several Sunni Arab states have classified as a terrorist organization.
The drone strike, if genuine, would mark propaganda victory for Hezbollah and reveal a significant vulnerability in Israel’s military capabilities.
They’re certainly making an impressive go of it, but I don’t see anything in their arsenal that’s going to survive sustained attacks.
SPYDER is so comically expensive that resisting long range drones will bankrupt the country, and automated turrets, while much better from a price per kill perspective, simply don’t have the range of other solutions (hundreds of meters at best rather than 40km of SPYDER or 5km of iron dome).
A better solution for the drones in the OP might be the new Rheinmetall platforms with airburst ammunition, but I’m not sure Israel can procure those in the numbers necessary to cover their defenses or infrastructure.
There’s a reason you might not want to be firing shrapnel explosives over the heads of your own citizens.
But hey, it’s Israel. Maybe they don’t give a shit.