military drones
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Israel has faced an increased threat from drone warfare used by the Axis of Resistance

Israel has been shooting down a significant number of its own drones, a US military official said on 2 April.

"Something interesting that comes from Israel, 40 percent" of the drones "knocked out" by the Israeli army are shot down in cases of "friendly fire," Marine Lt Col Michael Pruden told The War Zone and other attendees of the yearly Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington DC.

"As Israel's engaging in Gaza, and they're on their front line, they see a small UAS, what are they going to do if it's not identified immediately? They're going to shoot it down," Pruden added.

Pruden referred to this as the "default course of action" since the time between a drone's detection and when it could execute an attack is usually a matter of "seconds."

According to the US Marine, this number was derived from recent Israeli army operations in the Gaza Strip.

He makes clear that having to rapidly distinguish between hostile and friendly drones is a major issue for the Israeli army and is also something the US military will increasingly have to deal with.

Another major challenge is that the uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and loitering munitions deployed by the US and Israel are launched in an uncoordinated and decentralized manner, often by smaller units, increasing the chance of friendly fire.

The Israeli army has faced an increased threat from drones in the recent months of the ongoing war in Gaza, which has seen several other fronts open up against Israel.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a drone attack by Hezbollah on 6 May, coming as the Lebanese resistance group has stepped up its use of UAVs against Israeli sites in recent days. The Iraqi resistance has also been using drones to target sites in Israel.

Last month, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in response to the Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus in early April.