Hezbollah has discovered a low cost cheat code that has rendered Israel's modern military equipment obsolete- the First Person View (FPV) Drone. A weapon so cheap and simple that is wiping out hundreds of millions worth of Israel's military and surveillance technology.
Left in disbelief, the Israeli military have suffered around 250 casualties in just over two weeks, largely at the hands of Lebanese resistance drone operators. Having adopted guerilla warfare tactics to confront the invading Israeli army in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is utilising a strategy that no other non-State actor has managed to pull off until this point, but may well be reshaping asymmetric warfare as we know it.
The use of FPV drones, a strategy emerging from the Ukraine-Russia war, has had a deadly effect on advancing enemy forces and is said to be responsible for the majority of battlefield casualties in East Europe's current major conflict.
FPV drones come in two separate varieties- one using a fiber-optic cable and the other being a radio-controlled Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The fiber-optic cabled drone appears to be favoured by Hezbollah, as its advantage comes in its ability to render Israel's high-tech air defence systems useless, as electronic warfare and spectral jamming don't work against it. Meanwhile, the radio-controlled version has been deployed for the purpose of using larger explosive charges.
These small quadcopters proved so consequential in Ukraine, that both Kiev and Moscow began mass producing them. The Ukrainians even claim to have gotten their bulk production costs down to $300 per unit, making them cost efficient.
While The Guardian has alleged that a source claims Hezbollah produces FPV drones at a similar price range to the Ukrainian estimates, two sources familiar with the matter told MintPress News that the cost of locally manufacturing these UAVs could come to as low as $50 for the Lebanese group. It was stressed, however, that the cost depends on the drone's variation and could cost up to $4,000 in specific cases.
What does differ from the use of FPV drones in Ukraine and their use by Hezbollah against Israel is that while they were developed as a tool at the disposal of two modern armies, they are now used to wage asymmetric warfare. In the Ukraine war there are clearly defined frontlines, meaning that bringing armoured convoys within 30 kilometers of the enemy is the danger zone.
In southern Lebanon, or even northern occupied Palestine, there are no front lines. Hezbollah fighters are based throughout southern Lebanese lands, right between Israeli occupied positions, making it impossible to know when an FPV drone will be used as a loitering munition against enemy troop formations or vehicles.
Logistically, managing such a threat has become a nightmare for the Israeli military.
According to Israel's Alma Research and Education Center think-tank:
"If the gap is not bridged quickly, hundreds of dollars will defeat millions of dollars, and tactical success will translate into a strategic limitation of Israeli freedom of action."
Israeli army Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, has told his fellow defence officials to spare no expense on tracking down a solution to the FPV drone threat. There has also been talk of the high-tech Viper Interceptor drone being deployed as a potential solution. However, the technology is simply not yet there, and it isn't promised that this high-cost solution would work.
The IDF, for its part, has even been forced to admit that "no magic way to stop Hezbollah's FPV drones", instead claiming that the US removing limitations of Israel's freedom of action in Lebanon will "lower the threat by 80%"- presenting no evidence to back up this percentage.
Facing the new drone threat has come to such a point that the Israelis weren't even able to complete advances with their own soldiers inside military vehicles. Instead, the Israelis had advanced to the other side of the Litani River, or at least the portion of it closest to the border, using robots.
A major hurdle that is now facing the Israeli attempt to permanently carve out an occupation of southern Lebanon, is the sheer cost involved in such a move. On May 7, a Hezbollah FPV drone struck and destroyed an Iron Dome battery stationed on the Israeli side of the Lebanon border. The loss of a $100 million air defence battery, using a drone worth hundreds or even less.
The Lebanese resistance group claims to have struck hundreds of Israeli tanks and military vehicles of all sorts of descriptions, since the beginning of the war. For reference, the latest Israeli Merkava MK.4 Barak tank costs between $9-$10 million, while the cheapest variations of the Merkava's are around $3.5 million.
While the total cost of Israel's multi-layered air defence network is estimated to be in the billions, it is a State secret.