Maj. D., an officer in the Israeli Air Force (IAF), saved soldiers on the northern border who were targeted by a Hezbollah anti-tank unit when a strike drone he and his team operated eliminated them inside enemy lines.
“We reached the point with the UAV and located Hezbollah’s anti-tank unit that prepared to fire on IDF tanks. We attacked and managed to eliminate them,” he said. Maj. D. and his soldiers operate such aerial assets away from the battlefield and manage to save lives in the process. “I suddenly realized to what degree we were protecting them,” he said.
Drones have been part of the IDF since before the Yom Kippur War in 1973. "A short time before the war, some people would utilize their hobby of flying modular aircraft - the kind children play with, attach them with a camera, and send them across enemy lines to see what they're doing and how they're organizing."
Over the years, this system gained technological momentum and developed in size and capabilities. "We are on the ground, while the drone knows how to fly in an almost fully autonomous manner. This way, we can focus on accomplishing our mission." The turning point in the use of drones took place during the Second Lebanon War when the flight hours of unmanned UAVs surpassed those of manned aircraft.
Drones have been involved since the first day of the ongoing war in Gaza, and when asked about the farthest distance he has flown his drone, Maj. D. says, "You can let your imagination run wild, and wherever you reach, take it a little further."
According to him, at least one drone flies in Israel’s airspace at any given time. "It's no coincidence that our enemy mentions this in his speeches; every mission he tries to carry out is a suicide mission."
Squadron commander Lt. Col. R. also points to the number of terrorists eliminated by drone operators as a sign of success. "When you look at the figures, you understand how many terrorists were out of reach of ground forces. Therefore, every terrorist in Gaza or the northern border should feel as if a drone could strike him at any moment."
Even before the outbreak of the war, joint training sessions were held between infantry brigade commanders and Air Force personnel, including drone operators, to prepare the forces for the possibility of a war in which they would have to work together. "There’s an alteration of infantry combat in this, combined with the drone system operating from above. We manage to make a powerful fist together.”
Lt. Col. R. was appointed command a few months before the war broke out and was a fighter pilot in his previous role. According to him, there’s no difference between sitting in the remote drone operators' trailer and sitting in a fighter jet cockpit apart from the G-force acting on the body inside an aircraft.
"Nothing changed for me in my transition from the manned squadron to the remotely controlled one. Our cockpit is the same used in manned aircraft, and fighting in it feels the same,” he said.