On October 13, four IDF soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base near Binyamina. This is the deadliest drone attack in twelve months carried out by the Iranian-backed terrorist group.
In recent months, drone attacks against Israel have become more serious and deadly. For instance, in July, a Houthi drone struck Tel Aviv. In early October, two IDF soldiers were killed and twenty-four wounded in a drone attack targeting the Golan.
In addition, Hezbollah launched two drones targeting Herzliya during Yom Kippur. One of them struck a building.
As drone attacks become more deadly, it’s worth asking what is known about the types of drones that Hezbollah and Iranian proxies are using in their attacks.
Hezbollah is estimated to have more than 2,000 drones of various types. It continues to acquire and build them. It has carried out several hundred UAV attacks on Israel since October 2023.
Most of these involve kamikaze drones, which are basically made up of a long tube-like fuselage, a warhead at the front of the tube, and a propeller at the back. Hezbollah drones appear to have a range that can reach Tel Aviv.
Observation Drones
Hezbollah has deployed various types of drones to conduct surveillance. Not much is known about all the types that Hezbollah has, but the terrorist group likely uses commercial quadcopter drones and has also developed other types of small drones that can film video and collect intelligence. It has used these to fly over IDF bases in the Galilee and the Golan, and Hezbollah has twice released footage taken from its surveillance drones.
Kamikaze Drones
The concept of using a drone as a kamikaze weapon is relatively new. Iran and groups like Hezbollah initially had drones that they used for surveillance. However, when they sought to put munitions on the drones, such as how the US put missiles on the Predator drone, they ran into challenges.
It’s not easy to navigate a drone with a munition where you need a man-in-the-loop to drop the bomb or launch the missile from the drone. It usually means have some kind of communications link, and that might mean having satellites and other technology that Hezbollah does not have access to.
That would limit Hezbollah to line-of-sight control of its drones if it tried to put weapons on them.
Iran and Hezbollah’s simple solution was to turn the drone into a weapon similar to a cruise missile. These types of drones are called “loitering munitions.” This is because they are a “munition,” but unlike a cruise missile, they can fly in a pattern and “loiter” over a target.
Hezbollah drones don’t necessarily have all these capabilities. They are unlikely to be able to fly in circles and “loiter” because it is unlikely that a person is guiding them.
