James Patton Rogers, a drone expert and executive director of the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute, suggested this reflected a “broad neglect of air defence for over a generation”, which non-state actors like Hezbollah have sought to capitalise on.
“They fly [drones] slowly and reduce their electronic output to reduce their radar signature and chance of detection, and have increasingly used materials like carbon fibre that are harder to detect,” he added.
The cure
The fact that Hezbollah was able to fire an undetected drone and strike an Israeli air base, killing several soldiers, raises serious security questions for Israel.
Defence chiefs face the prospect of further drone “swarms” that could overwhelm urban centres.
Onn Fenig, who runs a defence software company, says he is working on a solution to the drone issue.
“A 1000-pound drone can take out a three million-pound tank. We have seen this in action in Ukraine and this is what the IDF should assume it will face in Lebanon, if and when a ground entry happens,” he warned in an interview with The Telegraph.
His software works by using AI-powered sensors that could be placed all across Israel and algorithms to detect drones flying low in the sky.