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Israel and Ukraine have used drones against their adversaries in audacious ways that have helped the Pentagon see the need for new technology.
July 10, 2025, 10:13 a.m. ET
The Pentagon has been working to beef up drone defenses at overseas bases in the past 18 months, after three Army reservists were killed in an attack by an Iran-backed militia on an outpost in Jordan early last year.
But in recent months, the U.S. military has seen a potentially broader vulnerability, as both Israel and Ukraine attacked adversaries with drones smuggled deep behind enemy lines.
The audacious and creative use of drones by an Israeli intelligence agency to mount strikes from inside Iran, and Ukraine’s so-called Operation Spider’s Web, which knocked out Russian strategic bombers with drones launched from inside Russia, has made clear that the threat to the U.S. military is not just overseas, but also at home.
American defense companies are pushing new technologies that they say can more effectively intercept drones. The companies are hoping that the billions of dollars the Pentagon is planning to invest in missile defense — the so-called Golden Dome program — will also be used to build up new drone defenses.
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Some new technologies aim not to shoot down drones one by one, but use what is known as directed energy, including high-powered microwaves, to take down large swarms of drones at once. The military has conducted at least two tests of the new microwave system, including one in the Middle East and one in the Pacific, setting the stage for a bigger Pentagon investment.
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