Keeping Watch

That all had to start somewhere and that somewhere was an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) requirement to look into the rear areas of hostile neighbouring nations without risking expensive and difficult to replace aircraft and highly trained pilots.

In opening hours of the Six Day War in June 1967, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) comprehensively destroyed the air forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan before most even had an opportunity to get off the ground.

In the ensuring War of Attrition (1967-70), Russia re-armed Egypt and Syria with modern air defences, featuring SA-2 and SA-3 missiles and their radar systems.

Just how effective was this system was amply demonstrated in the opening days of the October 1973 Yom Kippur War when the IAF experienced unsustainable losses.

But well before then, the IDF knew it had a problem in conducting the deep reconnaissance of neighbouring backyards it once freely undertook.

Ever willing to consider fresh ideas, a radio control aircraft enthusiast staged a demonstration where he flew a model airplane out several hundred metres, took some photos with an onboard film camera then flew back.

This was in 1972 and demonstrated proof that this was a viable concept.

Then Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan called on Israel’s defence industry to come up with an unmanned capability able to fly out, not hundreds of metres but 100 kilometres to conduct surveillance.

Israel’s first practical UAV was the Tadiran Mastiff, built by Tadiran Electronic Industries, and first flown in 1977.

Although many remote controlled military aircraft had gone before, Mastiff is regarded as the world’s first modern military UAV, equipped with a video camera and datalink to provide real time battlefield surveillance.

Mastiff was followed by the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Scout which first flew operationally in 1981.

Mastiff and Scout appear remarkably similar, each with a full weight around 150 kilograms, propeller engine power in pusher configuration and endurance of around seven hours.

Both feature the twin tail booms characteristic of Israeli UAVs. That allows better positioning of the aerials and undercarriage and leaves the fuselage free to carry the mission payloads.

When these early UAVs were first fielded, the ability for a commander to observe enemy activities in real time was truly astounding.

But compared to what’s possible now, this was pretty basic – grainy black and white video, in daytime only, from an unstabilised Sony video with 150 millimetre lens, transmitted through a basic datalink.

Loiter time was modest, perhaps a half hour over Beirut before having to fly back.

But it was a beginning, observed Shaul Shahar, the head of IAI’s Military Aircraft Group. Much of his 26-years in the IDF was spent on unmanned systems.

Shahar said every year brought additional capability. The first Lebanon war demonstrated a requirement for night observation, which was introduced in 1983, though first generation cooled IR seekers produced low resolution imagery.

Missions over Beirut showed the need for longer endurance. Resolution of day and night sensors steadily improved and stabilisation allowed the camera to remain steady no matter how the aircraft moved.

In 1992, an Israeli startup company said they could replace the black and white camera with a colour camera. The trial conducted over south Lebanon proved a revelation.

It was Israel’s imaginative deployment of UAVs in the Lebanon war which really made the world take notice of this new capability.

In around two hours on June 9, 1982, the IDF scored one of the most lop-sided victories of recent military history, shooting down more than 80 Syrian aircraft and obliterating the air defences in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

This was probably the biggest air battle since WW2 and a triumph of good planning and effective execution.

Considering how well Syrian and Egyptian air defences had performed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this underlined the superiority of western over Soviet military systems.

At the time, the IDF operated two platoons of Mastiffs and two of Scout, with six aircraft in each platoon. Well before the fighting started, UAVs were used to plot the position of Syrian SAM batteries and other forces in the Bekaa.

In the opening round, UAVs imitated Israeli combat aircraft, prompting Syrian radars to switch on and reveal their positions, which were then attacked with anti-radiation missiles fired by IAF F-4s.

‘In the opening round, UAVs imitated Israeli combat aircraft.’

At least two UAVs remained over the Bekaa throughout the battle, providing real time battle damage assessment and updates, relayed through other UAVs to IAF E-2C and Boeing 707 command and control aircraft.

Israeli UAVs also orbited over three Syrian airfields, providing early warning that Syrian jets were on the way. As many as 86 Syrian aircraft were shot down. Some Israeli UAVs were reportedly destroyed and an aircraft damaged but no Israeli personnel were killed.

Although Israel had used UAVs since the mid-70s, this was a clear demonstration of their utility in high intensity conflict of the type which could have erupted between western and Warsaw Pact forces during the Cold War. Plenty of people took notice.

Israel has since produced a diverse and bewildering arrays of UAVs which have been widely exported. The UK website dronewars.net, which keeps tabs on proliferation of armed UAVs, cites exports to 49 countries.

It also lists close to 50 different types of UAV produced by Israeli companies. This becomes confusing as one basic airframe may be produced in different variants and given different designations as it is progressively updated.

As well, some Israeli designs have also been produced in other countries.

Zvi Feldman, senior assistant to the IAI Military Aircraft Group general manager, said they had more than 52 customers worldwide.

“We have flown approximately two million flight hours. We have UAVs from five kilograms to over five tonnes. We deal with all kinds of UAVs for various applications – surveillance, battle damage, whatever,” he said.

Ron Tryfus, vice president for marketing and business development for the IAI systems, missiles and space group, said a significant percentage of IAI products were initiated and driven by an IDF operational need.

“This is very important. This is something that is in IAI DNA,” he said.

“It’s not only that you cannot buy it abroad. There is no such product. If you want to build something from scratch and to have it…. on time to the customer, which will not be 10 years later, they come to IAI because IAI is a centre of excellence for different capabilities.”

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is quite familiar with Israeli UAVs.

Operations in Afghanistan showed a very clear need for UAVs to support ground operations and the ADF took over the Canadian lease of three IAI Heron 1 UAVs, flying more than 27,000 hours for Australian and coalition forces.

The RAAF retired its Heron 1 fleet in June 2017, leaving a gap of three years or more in which it has no UAS capability.

The Herons are gone but other equipment of Israeli origin remains in service.

The current Australian Army tactical UAV, the RQ-7 Shadow is an American aircraft, although it was developed from the RQ-2 Pioneer, a joint design of IAI and US firm AAI.

Pioneer grew out of the Scout program and was acquired by the US Navy, Army and Marine Corps from the mid-1980s.

Pioneers flew a large number of reconnaissance missions during the 1990-91 Kuwait war. US battleships used Pioneers to adjust the aim in gunfire support missions.

In the most notable incident, Iraqi defenders on Faylaka Island spotted a low flying drone and, realising they were set to cop another pasting, waved handkerchiefs, undershorts and sheets to indicate their desire to surrender.

The IDF may well be a pioneer in another area – launching missiles from UAVs against ground targets.

However dronewars.net says the evidence is obscure because Israel has never admitted to employing armed UAVs.

It says the first reliable record of missiles being fired from drones by any nation was by the US in November 2001 at the start of the war in Afghanistan.

Israel may not admit it but there’s plenty of evidence that it has, including reports from Gaza. Certainly, Israel promotes its diverse range of UAVs as battle proven.

Media reports suggest Israel has fitted weapons to a range of its UAVs including Heron 1 and its successor, the Heron TP, as well as the Elbit Hermes 450, none ever officially acknowledged.

Neither does IAI acknowledge that Heron TP it’s seeking to sell Australia under project Air 7003 can be armed. It says that’s a matter for the Israeli MOD and the IDF.

Ron Tryfus notes that UAVs can be constantly upgraded through their lives, gaining more sophisticated avionics, new software packages and “maybe other external loads which I refrain from mentioning now.”

That Heron TP can be armed is no mystery as that’s precisely what the ADF says it wants and this was clearly indicated in the 2016 Defence White Paper. However, surveillance would remain its fundamental mission.

Through Air 7003, the ADF is seeking to acquire a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system for support of future defence operations. These aircraft could also be employed in a range of civil missions including bushfire observation and post-disaster surveillance.

There appear to be just the two contenders, IAI with Heron TP, big brother to the familiar Heron 1, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) with its Reaper series of armed UAS.

IAI unveiled Heron TP at the Paris Air Show in 2007 and it entered service with the IAF in 2010.

In IAF service it’s known as the Eitan (Ethan). IAI is close to signing a deal with the German Ministry of Defence and Heron TP is also being considered by others, including India.

This is a big UAV, with wingspan of 26 metres, compared to 16.6 metres for Heron 1 and 20 metres for the General Atomics Reaper.

Under the IAI proposal, it would supply Heron TP aircraft and flight control systems and Australia could choose its own sensors, mission systems and datalinks to ensure they are fully compatible with coalition networks. In practice, that means sensitive US networks.

While Australia has experience of Israeli UAS, Israel has used Australian technology in one of its UAVs, the Searcher 3.

Searcher UAVs replaced Scout and Mastiff in IDF service from 1992 and have since been sold around the world. Users include Russia, India, Spain and Singapore.

Searcher 3 aircraft are powered by the Australian-made Jabiru engine.

Israel may have another claim to fame for novel UAS application, fielding the first loitering munition, a technology now used by more than a dozen countries.

Tryfus says a loitering munition is something between a UAV and a cruise missile.

This is particularly useful for dealing with enemy air defence radars which may switch on only intermittently. The loitering munition orbits overhead then attacks the moment it senses a radar emission.

Loitering munitions do the same job as traditional anti-radiation missiles such as the AGM-45 Shrike but can do it more persistently and without endangering a manned aircraft.

“You want to be able to get to the area of the target, stay there for a long time and close the loop between observation and attack,” Tryfus said.

“You can loiter in the area of the target for a long time and by a long time I mean hours. It all depends on how many times you want to go down on the target and then back up to loiter, which is also another capability.”

It may be that the radar operators realise that the moment they switch on, they will be obliterated so they stay switched off. That still amounts to fulfillment of the suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) mission.

IAI produces a family of loitering munitions and its Harpy, introduced to service in the late 1980s is regarded by some as the first true loitering munition.

Harpy is a 135-kilogram UAV with a 500 kilometre range and 32-kilogram warhead, specifically intended to target radar systems.

Harpy has been exported to among others, Turkey, India and China. Sales of this advanced technology to China sparked strong protests from the US. China now produces its own loitering munition which bears a curious resemblance to Harpy.

The Harpy and its latest variant, the larger and longer endurance Harop are both single use munitions intended for the SEAD mission.
These can act autonomously, attacking without involvement of a human operator.

IAI also produces smaller loitering munitions, Green Dragon and Rotem-L for use by soldiers in the field.

Green Dragon is a 16-kilogram electrically powered UAV with a 2.5 kilogram warhead and 75 minutes endurance. This features a day and night seeker and it intended to give small units and special forces a precision strike capability along with the ability to watch over their operational area.

Rotem-L is an even smaller package, weighing five kilograms, with two able to be carried by a soldier in a special backpack.

Unlike Harpy or Green Dragon, Rotem-L is a quadrotor UAV powered by batteries and intended to give soldiers a surveillance and precision strike capability, especially when fighting in urban areas.

Popular Mechanics magazine termed Rotem-L as the Kamikaze Quadcopter from Hell.

And unlike other single use loitering munitions, it can be used more than once.

“You can use it multiple times, unless you decide to attack the target. If you decide not to attack, even if armed, we have a very smart patented disarming capability,” Tryfus said.

“Everything is based on an operational need. This is not a Toys R Us or DJI loitering aircraft.”

Rotem-L need not even be armed all the time.

The warhead comprises one or two Mark 26 fragmentation hand grenades which the operator can fit to the aircraft as needed. If not needed, the same receptacle can house extra batteries to extend endurance from 30 out to 45 minutes.

Being battery powered, this aircraft is virtually silent. It’s even fitted with a collision avoidance system so it can fly through windows and inside buildings.

Rotem-L features a day and night sensor and datalink, streaming high definition imagery to the operator’s tablet computer. Green Dragon is operated from the same sort of tablet.

Should the operator spot a suitable target, it’s just a matter of selecting attack mode on the tablet and the aircraft executes a shallow dive then detonates the onboard grenades.

Tryfus says Rotem-L could even land on a moving car.

“That could surprise someone. There are cases in which you want to put it on your own car to bring it back,” he said.

These are reportedly now in service with the IDF.