I READ ALMOST DAILY that Israel has shot down an enemy drone or incendiary kite or balloon.
The enemy’s aerial attacks cost a few enemy“prutot” while each Israeli missile sent to down them cost thousands of dollars.
The enemy – be it Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and its proxies in Syria – is winning the war on Israel’s treasury and taking money that could be better spent on promised social programs.
According to Forbes1, Israel spent around $23 billion on its armed forces in 2014 and SIPRI estimated that this amounted to 5.2 percent of its GDP. In comparison, Russia has embarked on a huge military spending binge which was estimated to have reached 4.5 percent of its GDP in 2014
Even if the incendiary devices did not cost thousands of shekels damage to the economy – both domestic and export – the cost of bringing down the devices by missiles depletes the country’s treasury.
Weaponry provided by the U.S. and other countries may seem free, but it is not. All “gifts” come with a string. The “string” for U.S. supplied weapons is that Israel must buy a certain amount of good from the U.S., often from the same company that made the weapons.
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
Rather than send missiles worth tens of thousands of dollars against a drone worth a few hundreds, send a drone to down a drone.
Arm the defensive drone with (relative) low cost weaponry to either disrupt the attack drone’s guidance system or, at a little extra cost, armed with a short range weapon – e.g., a shotgun or rifle – that can down the invader.
The drone, once the invader is finished, can be returned to base to fly again.
This is not science fiction.
Drones also can be used to “discourage” kite fliers and balloon launchers from nearing the Israel-Hamas fence.
Israel has a non-lethal spray that, like a skunk, has a “perfume” that is not pleasant to the human olfactory sensory neurons. Chicken manure is as good an example as a skunk’s discharge; and both have the same effect of discouraging continued presence in the “fragrant” area.
I might recommend a spray combining poison ivy, sumac, and mango. It might not smell as bad, but the effect lingers longer.
The only concern with using a spray is its dispersal. Depending on wind direction, the atomizer drones might have to be well behind enemy lines. From the military’s point of view, “not a problem,” since the drones can be remotely controlled over relatively long distances.
Save Amir Perez’s Israel-made Kippa Barzel (Iron Dome) and U.S, supplied Patriot missiles for anti-missile and anti-aircraft use.
Israel makes – and sells internationally – some very sophisticated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), a/k/a drones.
If a drone is downed there is minimal loss. (If the drone is equipped to self-destruct, the technology loss is minimized.) A downed drone is far less expensive that a downed aircraft (fixed wing or rotary wing). Since the UAV is, by definition, unmanned, no lives are lost if a drone is shot down.
Worst case, equip the drones with their own incendiary devices to set fire to enemy fields and buildings. “Tit for tat” as the diplomats say.
Drones, due to their size, speed, and maneuverability, are harder for radar and human eyes to detect than kites, balloons, or aircraft.
Israel can mass produce drones of sundry sizes and functionalities much more economically than it can Iron Dome missiles and with fewer “strings” that Patriot missiles and manned warplanes.
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/y9tlfcvu
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