Israel accomplished 'revolutions' in drone and air defense systems during Iran War

The number of drone flight hours connected with the Iran War was six times longer than the normal amount of hours for an entire standard year.

During the Iran War and in its aftermath, Israel pulled off and is pulling off multiple revolutions, regarding drones and regarding using robots to speed up air defense interceptor production, theDefense Ministry revealed on Tuesday.

Regarding drones, the ministry, which has been involved deeply in developing and evolving Israel's use of drones, said that the IDF logged thousands of flight hours over the skies of Iran even though that country is 1,500-2,000 kilometers (depending on which area) away, something which was not viewed as strategically possible until now.

The ministry stated that the number of drone flight hours connected with the Iran War was six times longer than the normal amount of hours for an entire standard year.

While the air force has already known how to cover Gaza or Lebanon with drone surveillance for years, these areas are on Israel's border, which means drones can quickly and easily travel to and from those areas back to Israeli launch bases.

There are many moderate Sunni allied countries closer to Iran geographically,

Most Israeli drones cannot just fly to and from Israel to Iran. For example, the Kochav and Shoval drones are limited to flying 1,000 kilometers, not far enough to get to Iran on their own and certainly not far enough to fly back.

But drones can refuel mid-flight, there were US naval vessels in the region, which could theoretically serve as launch points, and it is possible that Israeli naval vessels might have been in the region to serve as launch points.

These drones undertook around 500 attacks in Iran, making up around 50% of the total aerial attacks.

Also, the ministry had a huge hand in developing Israel's multi-layered missile defense.

A major question during and after the Iran War has been how Israel will cope with the fact that it was and is very low in terms of having sufficient Arrow 2 and 3 interceptors for its defense against ballistic missiles fired by Iran, the Houthis, and others.

Israel 'never reached red line' of interceptors

Ministry sources said that Israel never did and has not reached a red line of having insufficient interceptors to shoot down such missiles, but rather that, however problematic the situation, it has "some breathing room."

However, ministry officials said that greater integration of robots and automated services into the production process of Arrow 2 and 3 interceptors has tremendous potential to reduce the costs of each interceptor so that Israel can purchase a larger number in the future than it has in the past.

In terms of air defense, the IDF already announced last week that there was a 99% shoot-down rate versus around 1,000 Iranian drones, with only two drones striking anything and no Israelis killed.

Generally, Israel's air defense saved the country from between NIS 50-70 billion, with actual damage coming in at around NIS 10 billion.

Israel also has benefited from cooperating with the US, Germany, and others in learning better ways to utilize its missile defense as it and Iran start a new race to evolve their capabilities after this war.

In addition, Israel said that many of the startups, with a variety of niche solutions, that it has invested in in recent months and years, were already integrated into aspects of Israeli air defense during the war with Iran.