June 23, 2026: Iran backed terrorist group Hezbollah continues to attack northern Israel and now does so with the help of Russian drone technology. The fighting in northern Israel has been going on for decades and now Hezbollah has increased the threat by using quadcopter drones controlled by terrorists a kilometer or more away using First Person Viewing/FPV goggles to see what the video camera on the drone can see. Adding night vision is common and cheap. Each of these drones carries half a kilogram of explosives, so it can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. This is an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over northern Israel.

Israel responded to this latest threat by issuing drones to all units and patrols. That means all Israeli regular or reserve troops who serve in the north receive training based on the Ukrainian experience with drones. Ukraine invented drone warfare and is now selling their own drones, as well as training on tactics. Ukraine advised Israeli forces to use netting to protect vehicles or fighting positions from drone attack. Camouflage is also useful, especially if it involves the use of material that nullifies drones using heat sensing cameras.

These anti-drone efforts are nothing new. Over a decade ago an Israeli firm developed the Iron Dome system to effectively and economically destroy rockets and shells from mortar and artillery. That led to the Drone Dome that can detect and shoot down drones. Called Drone Dome, that was a lot cheaper because it did not use $90,000 Tamir guided missiles to intercept rockets or shells headed for residential areas or military targets. Instead Drone Dome used a high powered laser that destroys or disables most drones more than 2,000 meters away. Drone Dome’s radar can detect most small drones at ranges of up to 30 kilometers at altitudes of 10 to 10,000 meters.

Drone Dome is not a radical development but part of a trend. Since 2010 Israeli firms have developed a growing number of AUD/Anti drone Defense systems largely because Israel is a nation that is most often threatened by hostile use of drones, particularly small commercial ones increasingly used by Islamic terrorists and criminal gangs.

Iron Dome entered service in 2005 and continues to be the main defense against rocket and mortar attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. The manufacturer developed Iron Beam that used a laser but, because the laser was only effective out to about 2,000 meters, it was not useful against longer range rockets and actually more expensive than Iron Dome because the Tamir missile can knock down rockets fired from over 50 kilometers away and thus one Iron Dome battery can cover a much larger area than the Iron Beam system.

What makes Drone Dome different is its heavy use of electronic sensors to detect and jam the control signals used by drones, leaving the laser as a last resort. Several AUD systems are already in service and effective because they are good at detecting drones electronically and either jamming those control signals or taking over the control signals and capturing, by making it land, the drone. Troops in Iraq and Syria were asking for AUD systems that used lasers and better drone detection systems as well those with jammers to disable drones. There is a need for AUDs that can detect and destroy drones that do not use control signals and basically go on pre-programmed missions. This can be to take photos or deliver a small explosive. Usually it is to take photos and return. Drone Dome is one of several AUD systems equipped to detect and locate drones operating in pre-programmed mode and destroy or disable them quietly with a vehicle mounted laser.

AUDs like Drone Dome use one radar system and one or more sensor systems for detecting drone control signals or visual images that pattern recognition software can quickly identify what it is. In addition they have two or more truck mounted lasers which, because short range, usually about 2,000 meters for a 5 KW laser, means you have to deploy multiple lasers to cover an area.