Immune to electronic jamming and invisible to radar, the low-cost aircraft are piercing through Israel’s multibillion-dollar defence systems.In the skies over the Lebanese town of Taybeh, Israel’s multibillion-dollar defence systems were rendered useless by a spool of cable, according to a report by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet).As an Israeli medical evacuation helicopter rushed to rescue soldiers wounded in a drone attack, another unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hurtled towards them. With their electronic countermeasures failing, soldiers on the ground were forced to point their rifles at the sky, firing at the incoming threat before it detonated just metres away.The chaotic scene underscores a lethal new reality in the escalating conflict. The Lebanese group Hezbollah has introduced a new weapon to the battlefield: first-person view (FPV) attack drones guided by a physical fibre optic cable.The ‘unjammable’ threatUnlike traditional drones that rely on radio frequencies or satellite signals, these modified aircraft are tethered directly to the operator’s control station by a fibre optic thread. The cable can extend between 10–30km [6.2 to 18.6 miles], allowing the drone to reach distant targets.Because there is no wireless signal to intercept, the drones are immune to Israel’s sophisticated electronic warfare (EW) jamming systems. Furthermore, the aircraft are constructed from lightweight fibreglass, meaning they emit almost no thermal or radar signature.Hassan Jouni, a military analyst, noted that this renders tr …
