Faced with the looming possibility that Hamas could leverage some of the same techniques, Israel began running drills, practicing with fighter jets to intercept UAVs. In February 2014, it announced a prototype of a new air defense system: The "Iron Beam"-a directed energy weapon which, it hoped, will be able to track and destroy incoming drones. In 2021, Hamas again sounded the trumpets over its supposedly game-changing drone program. This time it unveiled a whole new model: the Shehab. The suicide drones starred in slickly made propaganda videos and have been lionized for years in Hamas communiques. Some were intercepted by the Iron Dome while others were shot down by F-16 jets. Video footage and unverified claims from Hamas suggest that one drone may have exploded near an Israeli chemical plant in May 2014-but appeared to do little to no damage. Despite the program's Iranian influence, Hamas claimed some of its drones were "Locally made." It said in a May 2022 press release that its drone program had made major progress, and it touted these new drones as a "Turning point" for its fight against Israel. In September 2022, Hamas inaugurated "Shehab Square," a public square featuring a model of the suicide drone on a pillar. Despite all this fanfare, a December 2022 report from the International Center for Counter-Terrorism took a dim view of Hamas' drone program. "Hamas has not demonstrated any ability to regularly use drones successfully," the researchers wrote. As to why Hamas would continue investing in a capability that has such a poor record, the ICCT surmised that "The association of drone technology with military status may explain the group's continued employment of drones." What's more, the ICCT noted that Hamas' technical failures seemed to be compounded by a lack of strategy or plan for what to do with these drones. The paper suggested that Hamas may lack the technical know-how to use these drones effectively, that it may be ineffective against Israel's defenses, or possibly that "The group is more concerned about being seen using drones than using them effectively."
This Cyber News was published on www.wired.com. Publication date: Thu, 30 Nov 2023 23:19:27 +0000