TEL AVIV, Israel, April 26 (UPI) — Israel, which has the most advanced defense industry in the Middle East, is in the forefront of the rapidly expanding drone business that’s changing the way wars will be fought for decades to come.
With state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries, Elbit Systems and Aeronautics Defense Systems developing new and more agile unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as ground and seaborne drones, the Jewish state seems well-placed to corner a big slice of a market valued at around $50 billion a year.
Indeed, Israel’s widely considered to be the leading UAV exporter in the world, selling units and associated technology as far afield as India, Russia, Nigeria and Mexico.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Israeli companies were behind 41 percent of all UAVs exported in 2001-11. Those Israeli exports went to 24 countries, including the United States.
That volume’s expected to expand as production costs are relatively low. Israeli industry officials boast that it’s significantly cheaper to buy an advanced UAV than it is to train an air force pilot.
“In recent years, there have been more pilotless sorties than piloted ones in the Israeli air force,” observed Ophir Shoham, an army reserve brigadier general who heads the Defense Ministry’s Research and Development division known by the Hebrew acronym Mafat.
Shoham, who’s had the job for three years, is responsible for the ministry’s program to develop advanced technology for rockets, missile interception, satellites and unmanned systems.
“Within a few years there will be a number of operational missions of a known character that we will be able to carry out with a small number of unmanned devices,” Shoham, the little-known “backroom boffin,” told the Israeli daily Haaretz in a rare interview.
“That’s the direction we’re taking,” he said. “Robots are not about to replace combat soldiers — that’s a bit far off — but yes, we’ll operate unmanned vehicles on the ground against highly dangerous targets.
“I refer to targets in enemy territory against which we can send such vehicles remotely, as a kind of forward guard — vehicles that both observe and shoot. We will witness this in the foreseeable future.”
Israel’s military has long used UAVs for intelligence-gathering operations in the fight against Palestinian militants and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Israelis also pioneered the use of missile-armed drones to assassinate key militant leaders.
But it was the Americans who developed UAVs like General Atomic’s MQ-1 Predator as killer drones in their war against al-Qaida since the attacks on the United States Sept. 11, 2001.
The first such assassination mission was in Yemen in November 2002.
Israel’s pioneering work with UAVs dates back to 1970. The first major combat role for the UAVs, namely an early variant called the Scout, was in the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The Israelis used Scouts from Israel’s first UAV unit, Squadron 200, as decoys to lure Syrian surface-to-air missiles sites in Lebanon, thinking the UAVs were combat aircraft, to lock on their radar systems, exposing their positions.
Israeli warplanes knocked out all 19 batteries over a two-day period, during which Israeli fighters shot down 85 Syrian aircraft for no loss.
The Scout was built by Israel Aircraft Industries, IAI’s original incarnation.
In addition to exports, Israeli defense firms set up subsidiaries in consumer countries “to target markets, rather than expand local manufacturing,” Israel’s Haaretz daily observed in 2009.
One example is the Aerostar and Orbiter 2M aerial drones being manufactured in Azerbaijan by Azad Systems Co., a joint venture between Israel’s Aeronautics and the Azeri Defense Ministry.
Oil-rich Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, has become a key Israeli ally.
“There are three explanations for Israel’s success in becoming a world leader in development and production of UAVs,” a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.
“We have unbelievable people and innovation, combat experience that helps us understand what we need and immediate operational use since we’re always in a conflict which allows us to perfect our systems.”
Shoham gets the last word. Developing the UAV, he says, “was one of Israel’s best investments.
“It led to the development of a tremendous technological infrastructure in the country. It’s important to us to maintain our place in the forefront of world technology.
“This is the key to development in the coming generations as well.”
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
To call israel a friend is to remind me of the snake story. Old woman saw a half frozen snake by the road and took it in. Warmed it, fed it, nursed it back to health. One time, when the woman went to feed it, it bit her. As she was dying from the poison, she asked why the snake bit her after she had helped it like she did. The snake simply said, “I’m a snake.”
OK-we know you don’t like Israel. That doesn’t change the facts that we need them in that area.
Not only is it good policy to have Israel as a friend in that region, but they need us.
Of course someone who hates armed conflict of any sort could not understand that. They think talk will cure all ails. Was Jimmy Carter your hero?
Whilst might does not always equal right, it does have it’s advantages. That alone keeps backwater dictatorships from doing stupid things to the citizens of the U.S. and our allies. It probably stops Kim Jong Un from stupidity, although at times I wonder.
Those who choose to try and do us harm, do not believe in life as we have it here. No political, economic, religious, or property freedoms. In most there is only one state-sponsored religion, it does not support freedom of movement, or any ability to petition their government, much less talk ill about it. At times, about the only thing such backwards countries believe in is might.
Many such governments/dictatorships reside in the same region as Israel. And those are the types who want to do them, and the U.S. harm.
@Observer-I “need” a million dollars to take care of all my debts and ensure myself a comfortable retirement. Cancer patients “need” a cure for their cancer. MS patients “need” a hand with their disease, as could HIV infected people. Guess what? Just because people “need” something doesn’t mean they get it. And trust me, people in this country “need” help more then some other countries do, including israel. So why don’t we take care of ourselves first?
@just saying-I would say the real question is, why are we sending billions to most of the country’s? Most of them hate us and would like nothing more than to see us taken down. We want to cut Social Security, Military Pensions and Medical Care but continue to give away billions and billions of dollars. We need Israel as a base as it is really our only friend in that region.
If all this is true about israel, they why is the U.S. sending billions to them every year in military and non-military welfare?