In Israel-Gaza War, Hamas’ Off-The-Shelf Drones Destroy Million Dollar Hardware
The Hamas group in the massive terror attack on Israel last week used some tactics that military experts say were rarely used earlier.
Apart from the use of powered gliders to insert heavily armed men into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the Hamas also deployed weaponised commercial drones to incapacitate static Israeli defences.
The Hamas’ use of commercial four-rotor drones to drop small bombs, which appeared to be mortar rounds, on light Israeli defence fortifications has led to worries among military analysts as this form of attack could be replicated by insurgent and terror groups anywhere in the world.
The use of weaponised commercial drones that are easily available in neighbourhood electronics stores – the types used by YouTube and Instagram bloggers to make reels – was first seen in Ukraine.
The outnumbered Ukrainian forces have been using small drones fitted with improvised hand grenades and mortar rounds to drop on the armoured elements of the invading Russian military. This tactic is said to be very effective.
A small drone that costs a fraction of an armoured personnel carrier can disable the vehicle or even neutralise troops, which presents a big challenge for a larger force that moves in big formations.
When Hamas started the terror attack on Israel on Saturday, it sent a swarm of commercial drones armed with small bombs. While Hamas men razed the border with bulldozers and came in powered gliders – which itself was a surprise of sorts – it sent the drones to attack watch towers along the border fence.
The Israeli watch towers are protected from the sides with armour, but have no roof. The bombs dropped by the drones fell straight into the gunner’s seat, disabling Israel’s first line of border defence.
Another video shows Hamas destroyed an Israeli Merkava Mark IV tank – costs approximately $3.5 million – with what appears to be a mortar dropped by a drone. Tanks usually have thin armour on the top (and the rear), which is also its most vulnerable part.
This is why some of the most effective man-portable anti-tank missile systems like the Javelin have a top-down attack – the missile flies upwards and then descends rapidly to hit the upper part of the tank where the lightly armoured hatch is located, instead of hitting from the sides.
Military planners around the world are waking up to the threat posed by drones now. Many nations have invested in anti-drone technologies like jammers to disable or override the controls of the drones.