These drones \u2014 used widely in the war in Ukraine<\/a> \u2014 are small, hard to track and lethal. Drones killed an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon and injured at least a dozen others in northern Israel on Thursday, two seriously. A soldier and defense contractor were killed in Lebanon earlier this week.<\/p>\n Many drones are susceptible to electronic jamming by air defenses. Jamming can cause a drone to crash or return to its point of origin.<\/p>\n Fiber-optic drones are not piloted via GPS signals or radio control. They have a thin cable spooling out behind them that connects the operator\u2019s console directly to the drone, making it impossible to electronically jam.<\/p>\n The drones are not infallible because the wind \u2014 or other drones \u2014 can cause the cables to tangle.<\/p>\n But, \u201cif you know what you\u2019re doing, it\u2019s absolutely deadly,\u201d said Robert Tollast, a drone expert and researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, explaining how the drone can fly low and creep up on a target.<\/p>\n Experts say militaries must either intercept the drones, which is difficult due to their small size and short flight path, or find a way to snip the nearly invisible cable.<\/p>\n Hezbollah \u2014 the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon \u2014 announced it has been using the fiber optic drones on Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon<\/a> or towns on the border.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a closer look at these weapons.<\/p>\n An Israeli military official told AP the fiber optic drones are a relatively new threat during the latest round of fighting with Hezbollah. Hezbollah seems to have turned to them because Israeli air defenses have been successful against larger and more powerful rockets, missiles and other drones, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.<\/p>\n Israel believes the drones are made locally and are easy to produce \u2013 requiring little more than an off-the-shelf drone, a small amount of explosives, and transparent wire that is readily available on the consumer market, he said.<\/p>\n He called the drones the biggest threat to troops inside Lebanon but said the Israeli military is working on technological solutions. In the meantime, Israel is taking measures on the ground to defend troops, such as adding nets and cages to military vehicles.<\/p>\n The fiber-optic drones are the latest part of a cat-and-mouse race as Israel\u2019s high-tech defenses race to intercept new threats, especially ones that are less sophisticated.<\/p>\n Ran Kochav, a former head of the Israeli military\u2019s air defense command, said Israel is failing in its attempts to defend against the fiber-optic drones.<\/p>\n \u201cThey fly very low and very fast, and they are very small, it\u2019s very difficult to detect them, and even after they\u2019re detected, they are really hard to track,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kochav said Israel spent years focusing on strengthening<\/a> its air defense systems to improve protection against rockets and missiles. But drones were not seen as a top priority.<\/p>\n He said Israel should have been following the advances in fiber-optic drones in the war in Ukraine and assumed that like Russia, other Iranian allies would eventually use them.<\/p>\n A technology race in the war in Ukraine<\/p>\n Throughout the war in Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv have been engaged in a race to develop new technology.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Israel_Lebanon_Drones_287_1.jpg\")
FILE \u2013 A Ukrainian-made FPV fiber-optic drone flies at a military marketplace at an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo\/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
\nA new weapon with a long trail<\/p>\n