File image.
Hezbollah’s drone units have expanded their operations, targeting an Iron Dome air defense site of the Israeli Defense Forces (SDF), in addition to several gatherings of troops in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, using fiber optic-guided first person view (FPV) suicide quadcopters.
The Iron Dome site, located near the IDF’s Jal al-Alam site in northern Israel, was targeted by Hezbollah twice, on May 7 and 8.
The first drone strike hit what appears to be a fully loaded launcher of the system, while the second targeted Israeli troops who were apparently removing the launcher. The launcher was hidden behind fortified semantic blocks, but still it was found and targeted.
The Iron Dome was developed mainly to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and shells. The system can also engage more traditional aerial targets, like fighter jets, helicopters, drones and cruise missiles. However, it is completely useless against small drones like quadcopters.
The system has a maximum range of 70 kilometers. A launcher fully loaded with 20 Tamir interceptors could cost well over $1 million.
Aside from the financial loss, the attack highlights the vulnerability of such high-value systems to FPV drones, which generally cost a few hundred dollars a piece.
Separately, Hezbollah shared three videos showing drone strikes against Israeli troops. The first strike targeted a temporary deployment site near the town of Bayada on May 6, while the second and third targeted a helicopter landing zone near the settlement of Shlomi and Jal al-Alam site in northern Israel on May 9.
In all three strikes, Israel troops were directly struck by FPV drones. The IDF didn’t acknowledge any fatalities from these strikes.
However, the IDF on May 10 said that a soldier who served as a driver in the Transport Center’s 6924th Battalion was killed when one of several FPV drones launched from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah hit him near the settlement of Manara in northern Israel.
The soldier was the fifth soldier to be killed in southern Lebanon amid the ceasefire declared by the United States last month. A civilian defense contractor was also killed.
The IDF is currently developing a system to counter Hezbollah’s fiber-optic cable-guided FPV suicide quadcopters. Israeli military officials have acknowledged, however, that such a system will be ready in the short term, nor will it provide a hermetic solution to the threat.
These drones have proven to be a gamechanger for Hezbollah as they made up for much of the capabilities the group lost during the previous confrontations.
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