The companies that provide a tactical response to Hezbollah’s explosive drones

In the latest campaign in Lebanon, the explosive drones became the biggest nuisance for the IDF soldiers maneuvering in the southern villages – since Hezbollah entered full combat at the beginning of March. So far the drones have claimed the lives of at least two: the operator of the engineering vehicle Amer Hujirat, a contractor employee of the Ministry of Defense who was killed yesterday, and the armored fighter Sergeant Idan Fox who was killed earlier this week; dozens of other fighters were injured to varying degrees.

Just on Thursday, 12 fighters were injured, two of them moderately, from a direct hit by an explosive drone on an ALFA APC for carrying shells that was stationed near an artillery battery in the Shumra area.

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Hezbollah does indeed launch dozens of drones at the IDF forces every day, but most of them are detected and intercepted using electronic warfare systems that disrupt the radio waves and cause them to fall. However, the few that manage to penetrate the defense envelope are drones of a particularly resistant and deadly type: explosive drones connected by an optical fiber to their operator’s position.

Purchased from Meali Express, the damage is fatal

The fiber drones are tiny drones, which can be purchased on sites such as Ali Express or Amazon for a few hundred dollars. The terrorists attach a 10-20 km long optical fiber to them, which allows them to transmit the flight instructions while being completely protected from the IDF’s jamming systems, which have been proven to be effective only against wireless drones.

These drones, which carry about 6 kg of explosives, require skilled pilots who operate them remotely using a camera. The few that Hezbollah manages to launch into the villages of southern Lebanon where IDF forces stay during the ceasefire, causing loss of life and destruction of equipment.

In recent years, the security establishment has tested various systems to neutralize drones, but the fiber drones appeared in the skies of Lebanon only in the current round that began about two months ago. Due to this, sufficient preparation has not yet been carried out – both in terms of combat theory (the manner of movement of the troops and vehicles) and in terms of being equipped with dedicated interception means.

Moreover, even the Western armies have not yet developed sufficient solutions to neutralize fiber drones. In Ukraine, fighting them is mainly carried out by throwing other attack drones against them, which are operated by skilled operators – a solution that cannot be replicated in Israel on a large scale, among other things due to the mountainous route of Lebanon which is different from the flat steppes in Ukraine. Although the threat of the fiber optic drones was first detected in Gaza even before October 7, the security establishment only recently began to practically prepare for it.

The startups that are trying to crack the interception challenge

The security system is preparing to deal with the threat of drones not only through the “big three” – Rafael, Elbit and the Aerospace Industry – but also through pilots and order agreements with a variety of start-ups and even companies from the USA and Ukraine. Although the scope of the activity was smaller than required in retrospect, some of the solutions were successful in detecting and neutralizing wireless drones (“communication drones”), but only a few proved complete success against the fiber drones.

The issue of detecting the location using radar, sound sensors or cameras is considered to be resolved in most cases, as has been proven in recent months on the battlefield against UAVs and communication drones. Among the companies operating in the field: Third Eye (electro-optical detection), Insignito (acoustic detection), Magus (radar) and Warfel (detection of communication drones). Other companies such as Elbit, Kela, Exxon and Aerovision provide command and control systems (COS), which combine the data from the various sensors into a complete picture for the security forces.

But the discovery of the drone is only the first step; In order to intercept it, the security system is conducting experiments in several fields at the same time. The first area is projectile interception – using the soldiers’ personal weapons or dedicated shotguns. Israeli companies such as Smart Shooter and General Robotics operate in this field.

Smartshooter manufactures smart sights mounted on assault rifles (such as the M-16 or M-4), which were used to successfully intercept an explosive drone in Lebanon earlier this week. The sight is aimed at the target, calculates the expected glide path and executes a precise shot. These intentions are capable of interfacing with SHOB systems and radars (of companies such as Elta, Rada or Third Eye) to increase the effectiveness of detection and damage.

However, the projectile solutions have a fundamental drawback: the shooting is carried out at very short ranges of 100-200 meters from the force. This is late and dangerous timing, since failure to intercept at such a range leaves zero reaction time before the drone crashes at its destination. In addition, the use of these means requires the allocation of forces that will focus on scanning the skies, at the expense of performing other combat missions.

The most effective tool for dealing with the fiber drones is, apparently, the use of attack drones that physically neutralize them. However, as of today, there is no “off-the-shelf product” that has demonstrated a consistent ability to destroy on the battlefield over time – not even in Ukraine, where an intense drone war has been going on for over four years.

Among the solutions currently being tested in the security system are the Israeli Robotican’s “Goshawk” drones, which target the target and neutralize it by dropping a net, as well as solutions from the American company Fortem, which is backed by an investment from Lockheed Martin. The company Extend, which won the tender last year for the supply of attack drones, has so far supplied a relatively low volume of about 5,000 units. Other companies interested in entering the local market are Ondes, which offers the “Iron Drone” drones of Aerobotics, and the American Andoril, although its interceptor is considered relatively expensive and is priced at about 50 thousand dollars per unit.

The attack drones have their own limitations: they are still far from full autonomy and require skilled operators – a rare human resource on the battlefield. In addition, they are currently sold in a small number of units and at a high cost. Israeli manufacturers in the field claim that the high price is due to a limited volume of orders from the defense establishment, and that there is no financial support or long-term development plan in the field. Although MPA meets with many companies, conducts experiments and even issued a call for start-ups, a critical mass of contracts has not yet been created that would allow the placement of interception devices at every position in southern Lebanon.

And also: “Or Eitan” does not illuminate the sky of Lebanon

At the same time, the “Or Eitan” laser system was also supposed to provide an answer, but its activity since the beginning of “Harry’s Roar” has been limited to the point of non-existence. Although it was declared operational, the system has not yet been fully absorbed by the Air Force. However, even after its absorption, protection of all forces will require the purchase of dozens of launchers at a cost of hundreds of millions of shekels. Even in this scenario, the shooting range is limited to a few kilometers, making its effectiveness for immediate treatment of the fiber drone problem almost zero.