An Israeli Air Force drone crashed into the sea along Israel’s maritime border with Lebanon on Thursday, before being retrieved by the Navy.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the crash occurred due to a malfunction. No further details on the cause were published. The IDF said the entire fleet of the drone in question, which it did not identify, would be grounded amid an investigation into the crash.
In 2015, an IAF Elbit Hermes 450 drone, crash-landed in the sea off the coast of Lebanon, being seized by the Lebanese Army.
Lebanese soldiers remove an Israeli drone they say crashed in the port of Tripoli, northern Lebanon, Saturday, July 11, 2015. (Lebanese Army Website via AP)
Other smaller, off-the-shelf models used for simple reconnaissance missions, crash or are brought down in Lebanon — and the Gaza Strip — at a frequency of once every few months.
Until recently, talk of Israel’s armed drones was barred from publication by the Military Censor. For years the IDF would not confirm it uses armed drones, and Israeli journalists who attempted to report on it came up against the IDF censor.
The IDF said that drones make up about 80% of the total operational flight hours in the Air Force. Israel has not disclosed how many attack drones it has.
Top Photo:An IAI Heron 1 is seen flying off Israel’s coast in early August 2022 – Israel Defense Forces
Source: The Times of Israel;