The Israel Defense Forces on Monday cleared for publication new details on the interception of two drones launched toward Israel from Iran last year. According to the recently released information, F-35 fighter jets shot down the Shahed 171 drones on March 15, 2021. Two separate flight paths were used, one from the east of Israel and a second from the south. The Air Force's 116th and 140th squadrons intercepted the first drone at 2:16 a.m. and the second at 2:19 a.m.
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The interception site remains under wraps. The wreckage was collected in neighboring countries and transferred to Israel for inspection, after which Israel concluded they had been used to transfer weapons to the Gaza Strip. The drones had apparently been launched on an exploratory flight aimed at testing out the flight path.
The decision was made to censor the news of the interception so that the Iranians would be left to wonder what became of the drones.
The Shahed 171 drone is capable of flying around 1,240 miles at a speed of around 124 miles per hour. It has a nearly 23-foot-long wingspan and is capable of spending around 20 hours in the air.
Drones are relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture and operate and fly at low altitudes, making them ideal for Iranians looking to launch them from their territory while obscuring any possible connection to Iran.
Iran began to research drones in 2011, when they got their hands on an American drone they were able to examine in-depth and reverse engineer. Iran manufactured its own drones and handed them out to its emissaries. To date, Iranian drones can be found in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and even the Gaza Strip.
The Iranians use drones for a range of activities, including intelligence gathering, weapons transfers, and attacks on people and property. Israel has not provided much information on its anti-drone efforts beyond admitting strikes on targets related to the Iranian drone threat as part of the so-called "campaign between the wars."
Ever since Iran attacked a Saudi Aramco facility in 2019, disrupting the kingdom's oil production for months, its drone program has become an issue of global concern. Tehran has since used drones to repeatedly strike coalition forces in Iraq and Syria. It has recently made a number of attempts to transfer weapons and drones to its emissaries throughout the Middle East.
At least four Iranian drones have been launched toward Israel in three separate incidents over the last four years. The first such incident occurred in February 2019, when an Iranian model Shahed 141 drone, manufactured by the country's defense industry, launched from the T-4 airport in Syria entered Israeli airspace. That drone, which is capable of reaching speeds of up to 115 miles per hour, was believed to have been dispatched with the goal of transferring explosives to terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria. The drone, however, was shot done by an attack helicopter in the area of Beit Shean in Israel's north.
In addition to the two drones intercepted in March of last year, another drone manufactured by Iran's defense industry and capable of traveling 870 miles and reaching a height of 18,000 feet was launched that May, during the IDF's Operation Guardian of the Walls. The IDF used electronic warfare to neutralize the drone, which was launched from Iraq and sent it crashing into a fish pond in Kibbutz Maoz Haim in Israel's north.
Brig. Gen. Oded Basiuk, who heads the IDF's Operations Division, said, "In recent years, we have been witness to Iran's use of drones for various ends. The IDF promoted significant operational activity to contend with the threat, and every such attempt toward Israel has failed. Faced with these attempts, the IDF has studied and researched the attempted drone launched and consolidated an appropriate response. We are required to continue to learn as long as the threat exists and persists."
The signing of the Abraham Accords has significantly bolstered cooperation between Israel and various states in the Middle East. Due to Israel's strengthening ties with countries in the region, coordination has also increased significantly with Cairo and Amman.
Such invaluable cooperation allows Israel to receive advanced warnings when drones approach its territory as well as to operate outside of its territory to neutralize threats before they enter Israel's airspace. Security officials nonetheless believe the Iranian drone threat will grow in the coming years. Although the IDF has so far succeeded in thwarting the threat, officials note the potential for a future incident to end differently remains.
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