The Associated Press March 03, 2008
Pilotless planes emerge as a top Israeli weapon in its aerial war with Hamas
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinians know when an Israeli drone is in the air: Cell phones stop working, TV reception falters and they can hear a distant buzzing.
They also know what's likely to come next _ a devastating explosion on the ground.
Israeli officials refuse to comment on whether their pilotless planes are used in airstrikes, but Palestinians say the drones have been a major weapon in Israel's latest offensive in Gaza that has killed nearly 120 people since last week.
Israel is at the forefront of drone technology that is increasingly being used in hotspots around the world.
Drones provide a deadly and cost effective alternative for armies to target enemies, without risking their own pilots' lives while reducing civilian casualties in heavily populated areas.
The use of drones is shrouded in secrecy, with militaries around the world keen to keep targets guessing about their capabilities.
The U.S. army has used drones such as the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper, most notably in Afghanistan and Iraq, for airstrikes against Al Qaida commanders and others. U.S. drones have also reportedly killed militants in Pakistan and Yemen.
Reuven Pedatzur, a prominent Israeli defense analyst, wrote in an Israeli newspaper article in 2005 that it was safe to assume the Israeli army was doing the same in Gaza. Reflecting a general reluctance in Israel to discuss drones, on Monday Pedatzur refused to comment further.
Israel is probably the first country in the world to use unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, for both surveillance and to dispatch payload, said Damian Kemp, an aviation desk editor at Jane's Defence Weekly. He said Israel was a world leader in the field and was «capable of doing everything from the very small to the very large.
He said the drones were likely more accurate, cost-effective and safer than the use of manned F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters.
«The key thing in a UAV is it does missions that are dull, dirty and dangerous,» Kemp said. «They can be up there for a long time and in areas where you don't need to put a pilot at risk.
Still, their payload can be as devastating as any other airstrike.
«Our experience is that the drone missile is successful in hitting its targets, and it's deadly,» said Dr. Mahmoud Assali, who worked in the emergency ward of a northern Gaza Strip hospital that often treated gunmen hit by Israeli drones. «The drone has a zone of around 15 meters (50 feet) where it decimates everything. It targets people and leaves them in pieces.
Witnesses say that unlike F-16's and Apaches, the drones are quiet killers.
Jaber Wishah, deputy director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, said his organization has been hearing about drones firing missiles for more than three years. With no evidence beyond witness accounts, their mystique has only grown.
«The kind of missile _ from the shrapnel we've gathered _ appears to be small,» Wishah said. «But do we have documentation, photographs of a drone? We don't.
Urban legends of the drone's abilities have spread like wildfire.
Wary militants, armed with binoculars, are on constant lookout for them. When one is sighted above, the militants typically report via walkie-talkie to their comrades to turn off their mobile phones and take apart the battery for fear that the Israeli technology will trace their whereabouts.
A militant from the southern Gaza Strip, belonging to the Islamic Jihad group, said drones were mostly used to target individuals, and not structures. He said they often hovered at much higher altitudes than manned aircraft and their missiles usually left a deep, but narrow gash where they landed, unlike other missiles, which left large, shallow holes in the ground, and often much more destruction.
The militant said the drones usually targeted slow-moving targets, like people walking, or cars slowing down to avoid potholes in a road.
«It looks like it makes small circles in the sky, but before it's about to fire a missile, it slows down,» the militant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared being identified by Israel. «It's not like any other plane. You don't see the missile leaving, it's very quiet.
And so is Israel. The country has long been considered the world leader in drone technology and proudly exhibits its products at international air shows. But it maintains its drones are for surveillance purposes, and refuses to confirm if it uses them in airstrikes.
Doron Suslik, a top official at the Israel Aerospace Industries, which manufacture the drones, said the IAI has customers from all over the world, including Switzerland, France and India, and rakes in between $500 to $600 million (¤330 to ¤395 million) in yearly sales.
But he refused to divulge the drone's military capabilities, saying he needed to respect the wishes of his clients not to do so.
Government and army officials also refused to comment on the drone's firing capabilities.
Israel has used unmanned aircraft since the early 1970s, and its fleet has steadily increased. Air force officials say drones have become such an integral part of Israel's air power in recent years that their flight hours now outnumber those of manned fighter planes.
Earlier this year, The Associated Press learned that the U.S. army has doubled its use of drones in 2007 to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq.
Last March, Israel unveiled its largest unmanned aircraft yet in a glitzy ceremony at a seaside air force base in central Israel. The Heron has a 16.6 meter (54-foot) wingspan, can fly for as long as 30 hours at a time, at a speed of 120 knots (140 mph, 225 kph) and a height of 9,000 meters (30,000 feet).
Jane's Kemp said that an even newer version, unveiled last June in Paris and named the Heron TP (Eitan), has a wingspan of 26 meters (85 feet), can fly for as long as 36 hours and carry a maximum payload of 1000 kilograms (2,200 pounds).
Israel is one of the world's leading arms exporters, and public rollouts such as these often precede sales campaigns. Israel does not officially comment on its weapons deals.
Israel's allies are a little more open. Predators are a common sight in the skies of Baghdad and American officials are not shy in describing what they can do.
Equipped with cameras, sensors and a radar that can capture video and still images, the Predator is operated by a mobile ground control station. It also has a targeting system and can carry two laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
It is about 8 meters long (27 feet), weighs more than 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) and can fly at up to 7,600 meters (25,000 feet), remaining aloft for up to 40 hours.
The U.S. Air Force operates a fleet of roughly 100 Predators. The CIA also uses the aircraft and was closely involved in its development. The aircraft provides almost real-time, full-motion video to its ground station. It is remotely piloted _ Air Force pilots control and operate the aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan from Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas.
In late 2001, the Defense Department claimed a nearly «100 percent record of hits» in several dozen battlefield attacks by Predators in Afghanistan, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based defense think tank.
The following year, six alleged al-Qaida members traveling in a vehicle in Yemen were struck down by a CIA-operated drone.
The Reaper represents a major evolution in drones. It is four times heavier than the Predator, can fly twice as fast and twice as high. Its size _ 11 meters long (36 feet), with a 20-meter (66-foot) wingspan _ is comparable to that of a jet fighter and it can carry 14 of the air-to-ground weapons _ or four Hellfires and two 225-kilogram (500-pound) bombs.
In January, a missile fired from a U.S. Predator drone killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a top al-Qaida commander believed responsible for attacks on U.S. forces and the brazen bombing during a visit last year by Vice President Dick Cheney to Afghanistan, in Pakistan's north Waziristan region.
In the past, coalition forces in Afghanistan are believed to have launched a number of missile strikes from drones against Taliban and al-Qaida militants hiding on the Pakistani side of the border, but the U.S. military has never confirmed any of them.
Associated Press reporter Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2008, The Associated Press
