Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft

[mlurp]

Seems a lot of people are going Drone.. I wonder if it is a copy of the one Iran shot down?

.Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft

Reuters – 2 hrs 17 mins ago. 6 Oct. 2012 ........

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed into southern Israel on Saturday, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from.

The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean Sea in the area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich.

It was kept under surveillance and followed by Israeli air force jets before it was shot down above a forest in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank.

Leibovich said it was shot down at about 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), after it traveled east some 35 miles across Israel's southern Negev desert.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak praised the interception as "sharp and effective".

"We view with great gravity the attempt to compromise Israeli air space and will consider our response in due course," Barak said in a statement.

Soldiers were searching the area for the remains of the drone, which security sources said most likely did not originate from the Gaza Strip. It was not immediately clear whether it was armed.

On at least one occasion, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group in Lebanon, has launched a drone into Israel. And in 2010, an Israeli warplane shot down an apparently unmanned balloon in the Negev near the country's Dimona nuclear reactor.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Amir Cohen; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft - Yahoo! News

1,845 comments.

[Comet]

Hope it was not ours.

If this is Iran's, things just a whole lot more interesting.

I was about to post this but saw mlurp was quicker on the draw than I.

[mlurp]

Originally Posted by Comet

Hope it was not ours.

If this is Iran's, things just a whole lot more interesting.

I was about to post this but saw mlurp was quicker on the draw than I.

Yet not that often.

[Pretty Flamingo]

IAF Interception of UAV in Israeli airspace - YouTube

IAF Interception of UAV in Israeli airspace - YouTube

UAV Fragments Similar to Iranian Drones
IDF suspects UAV downed over Hevron area was sent by Hizbullah,
possibly for Iranian intelligence.

First Publish: 10/6/2012, 9:59 PM

The IDF suspects that the small UAV intercepted Saturday morning by IAF jets over the northern Sinai was launched by Iranian proxy militia Hizbullah. The drone may have been searching for targets for Iranian attacks.

The defense establishment has been looking at the fragments of the UAV, which fell in the area of southern Mount Hevron. According to reports, Israel initially suspected that it was launched from Sinai, but by Saturday evening, military sources said the military investigation showed the UAV had flown southward along Israel's Mediterranean coast before turning east over Gaza and heading into Israeli airspace. It is believed to have been launched from Lebanon.

If this becomes the final conclusion of the investigation, the apparent culprit behind the launch would be Hizbullah. The drone could have been collecting and transmitting information on possible targets for a missile hit by Hizbullah, Iran, or both.

The initial investigation indicated that the UAV is similar to UAVs used by Iran.

Hizbullah uses both Iranian-made and Russian-made UAVs.

The IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, has convened a special session of top officers to discuss the proper retaliation for the UAV infiltration.

The IAF's Aerial Monitoring Unit identified the UAV, which was not armed and probably served only for intelligence purposes – collecting data about IDF bases and the IAF's operational abilities.

The UAV is believed to have been equipped with cameras that transmitted the images they captured onward to receivers located outside of Israel

UAV Fragments Similar to Iranian Drones - Defense/Security - News - Israel National News


.

[Pretty Flamingo]

Route of Drone Hints It May Have Been Aimed at Nuclear Reactor
The strange route of the enemy drone downed by the IAF indicates Israel may have diverted it from flying over the Dimona nuclear reactor.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First Publish: 10/7/2012, 8:54 AM

The enemy drone downed by the Air Force, Saturday, took a strange route that did not cover strategic sites, indicating Israel may have diverted it from a route over the nuclear reactor in Dimona, located due east of Gaza.

The UAV entered Israeli air space from the Mediterranean Sea along the Gaza Coast and then made a U-turn, flying over the southern Hevron Hills before an F-16 plane destroyed it over a non-populated area.

The route raises questions because there are no army or air force bases or any other strategic sites along the route.

Officials estimate that it was guided by a pre-programmed GPS inside the drone and not from a control center at its origin, apparently Hizbullah-dominated southern Lebanon, DEBKA File reported. Israel may have carried out a cyber attack to scramble the GPS and change its route.

It is widely assumed that the drone was transmitting pictures. If the drone had continued on its eastern course from Gaza, it would have flown near or directly over the nuclear reactor. Israeli officials have been concerned since earlier this year that the nuclear facility would be vulnerable to an attack from Iran.

If the drone was not headed for Dimona, its strange route could mean the enemy simply was testing Israel’s response system.

The IDF said it scrambled several F-16 jets within minutes after the UAV was detected, and the IDF said, "This drone was spotted over the Mediterranean in a sector near Gaza, before entering Israeli airspace, where the air force followed it."

The fact that Israel allowed the UAV to fly over Israel for more than 20 minutes also indicates that the IAF may have diverted its route until it could safely bring it down a relatively unpopulated area. Otherwise, there would be no reason to allow an enemy craft to presumably transmit pictures.
Drone?s Route Hints It Targeted Nuclear Reactor - Defense/Security - News - Israel National News

[Oftencold]

Originally Posted by mlurp

Seems a lot of people are going Drone.. I wonder if it is a copy of the one Iran shot down?


Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft - Yahoo! News

1,845 comments.

Well, we know who likes to send drones to knock off people on his "hit list." It looks like the President finally found time for Mr. Netanyahu.

[mlurp]

Originally Posted by Oftencold

Well, we know who likes to send drones to knock off people on his "hit list." It looks like the President finally found time for Mr. Netanyahu.

my a** off. OC I loved this moment. It makes up for my football loses.

[Pretty Flamingo]

It's confirmed that it was Hezbollah that sent the drone.

Netanyahu: Hizbullah Sent Downed UAV
"We shall continue to act aggressively against all threats," Netanyahu said. Report: Nasrallah confirms Hizbullah did it.

By Scott Krane and Gil Ronen
First Publish: 10/11/2012, 6:52 PM

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday 11 October that the drone aircraft which flew some 35 miles (55 km) last weekend into Israeli territory before being shot down by the IDF was sent by the Lebanese militia Hizbullah, an Iranian proxy force.

Hizbullah boss Hassan Nasrallah was quoted a short time later as saying that his organization had indeed launched the drone, AFP reported.

"A sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft was sent from Lebanese territory... and travelled hundreds of kilometers (miles) over the sea before crossing enemy lines and into occupied Palestine," Hassan Nasrallah said on television.

Netanyahu said Israel would "act with determination to defend its borders", just as "we thwarted over the weekend Hizbullah's attempt" to penetrate Israeli airspace. "We shall continue to act aggressively against all threats," he said.

The drone, which was allegedly under Israeli surveillance before it entered Israel, was shot down on Saturday over a forest near Judea.

The IDF released a 10-second video clip of Saturday's incident, (video in my post above) showing a small, unidentified aircraft moments before being destroyed by a missile fired from an IAF fighter jet.

Netanyahu: Hizbullah Sent Downed UAV - Defense/Security - News - Israel National News

[faithful_servant]

Originally Posted by Pretty Flamingo

It's confirmed that it was Hezbollah that sent the drone.

Netanyahu: Hizbullah Sent Downed UAV
"We shall continue to act aggressively against all threats," Netanyahu said. Report: Nasrallah confirms Hizbullah did it.

By Scott Krane and Gil Ronen
First Publish: 10/11/2012, 6:52 PM

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday 11 October that the drone aircraft which flew some 35 miles (55 km) last weekend into Israeli territory before being shot down by the IDF was sent by the Lebanese militia Hizbullah, an Iranian proxy force.

Hizbullah boss Hassan Nasrallah was quoted a short time later as saying that his organization had indeed launched the drone, AFP reported.

"A sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft was sent from Lebanese territory... and travelled hundreds of kilometers (miles) over the sea before crossing enemy lines and into occupied Palestine," Hassan Nasrallah said on television.

Netanyahu said Israel would "act with determination to defend its borders", just as "we thwarted over the weekend Hizbullah's attempt" to penetrate Israeli airspace. "We shall continue to act aggressively against all threats," he said.

The drone, which was allegedly under Israeli surveillance before it entered Israel, was shot down on Saturday over a forest near Judea.

The IDF released a 10-second video clip of Saturday's incident, (video in my post above) showing a small, unidentified aircraft moments before being destroyed by a missile fired from an IAF fighter jet.

Netanyahu: Hizbullah Sent Downed UAV - Defense/Security - News - Israel National News

Good shooting!!! Next step - find out exactly where it was launched from and turn the site into gravel and ashes.

[MrLiberty]

Originally Posted by faithful_servant

Good shooting!!! Next step - find out exactly where it was launched from and turn the site into gravel and ashes.

Hezbollah admits they launch the drone from Lebanon.