On Nov. 4, Brussels Airport, one of the continent’s busiest hubs, was temporarily shut down following a reported sighting of an unidentified drone. Just days earlier, the smaller Liège Airport was also closed after drone activity, and authorities reported sightings over several military air bases, including one known to host U.S. nuclear-weapons storage.

These episodes are not isolated. Across Europe, similar drone incursions, at airports in Scandinavia, Poland, Germany and elsewhere, have raised alarm in defense and aviation circles over what analysts describe as “hybrid-warfare tactics”—unauthorized aerial systems probing critical infrastructure, and testing defenses.

These events mark an expansion in the threat landscape, as a result of the autonomous systems revolution that has been transforming long-held defense dogmas over the past decade. Civil infrastructure and domestic military installations alike now face the same low-cost, hard-to-track aerial risks that combat formations have been increasingly exposed to in recent years.

The new drone threat

The explosion of unmanned systems over the past decade has turned drones from niche tools into the cutting edge of modern warfare. The global unmanned aerial vehicle market was valued at nearly $32 billion in 2023 and is projected to exceed $91 billion by 2030, driven by advancements in AI, machine learning and robotics.

At the same time, the rapid spread of cheap, commercially available drones has opened space for new forms of asymmetric threats. “The increased availability of drones has also led to a rise in their malicious use, including espionage, smuggling and potential threats to critical infrastructure. This highlights the urgent need for effective Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) technologies,” the Tel Aviv-based Startup Nation Central nonprofit explained.

The two most significant ongoing wars, Ukraine and Gaza, serve as a particularly clear demonstration of the shifting nature of the modern battlefield.

Ukraine’s war with Russia has become a contest of attrition in the lower airspace. Ukrainian and Russian units burn through small drones at a pace unknown in previous conflicts. One recent assessment by London’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) noted that Ukrainian forces have been losing on the order of 10,000 small drones per month. In that environment, drones have become disposable artillery—loitering munitions used to spot and strike enemy positions.

The Gaza war has produced a very different kind of drone revolution. Here, the focus is less on mass swarms and more on integration.

For the IDF, “the tactical use of small drones is now proliferating at all levels of the army,” the Modern War Institute at West Point, N.Y., declared in a recent report. In practice, small quadcopters have been integrated into most operational maneuvers, from scouting missions, checking for IEDs, mapping tunnel shafts, and as midrange offensive platforms.

Meanwhile, the current war has significantly expanded Israel’s know-how surrounding UAV defense. Iranian-supplied kamikaze UAVs and suicide attack drones have been used by Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraqi militias and Hamas to probe and strike Israeli targets.

Seth Frantzman, an adjunct fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted, “Israel has faced rapidly increasing deadly drone threats over the past years of war,” pushing the Israeli Defense Ministry to accelerate counter-drone development and field systems that can detect, jam and intercept small UAVs as well as larger threats.

Lee Moser, managing partner of AnD Ventures, a Tel Aviv startup investor, pointed out that the technological and tactical problems Israel has been forced to solve—detecting low-flying drones in crowded airspace, distinguishing friendly from hostile platforms, and closing the kill chain quickly—are precisely the problems now confronting European governments.

Counter-UAV

A cornerstone of Israel’s dominance in the evolving landscape of autonomous warfare is its advanced defense industry, focusing on countering the threat of UAVs. Three companies dominate the Israeli C-UAV sector: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI/Elta Systems) and Elbit Systems. Each has developed export-ready detection and interception suites that now anchor the country’s global reputation for counter-drone innovation.

Elbit’s DAiR radar, introduced in 2022, can detect hundreds of aerial targets, including micro-drones, at ranges of 12–15 kilometers (7.5-9.3 miles), using active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas and micro-Doppler signal processing. Crucially, it is compatible with European protocols, allowing seamless data exchange with NATO command networks.

IAI’s ELI-2139 Green Lotus is a compact, mobile surveillance and defense system that merges several sensor technologies into one platform. Its multi-band radar detects drones, rockets, artillery and mortar rounds at varying altitudes and speeds, while communications-intelligence sensors locate the radio sources controlling hostile UAVs. Electro-optical and infrared cameras then provide visual confirmation and tracking. Mounted on a single vehicle, the system can be rapidly deployed to protect bases or frontline units.

Rafael’s Drone Dome system brings Israel’s sensor and interception expertise together in a single, modular defense unit. It combines advanced radar and electro-optical cameras to detect and track drones, then neutralizes them using either electronic jamming, disrupting their communication links, or a high-energy laser that physically destroys the target mid-air. The system can operate autonomously or be networked with broader air-defense grids, making it suitable for airports, military bases and urban protection.

Israel’s counter-drone edge is reinforced by a vibrant startup ecosystem that develops niche technologies to complement the country’s major defense contractors. D-Fend Solutions markets EnforceAir, a cyber-takeover system capable of seizing control of hostile UAVs, now deployed at several NATO bases. Skylock specializes in optical-tracking sensors, and XTEND develops human-guided autonomous-drone interfaces that let operators “fly through” complex environments using Augmented Reality. High Lander runs nationwide drone-traffic-management software tested by the Israeli Air Force.

This convergence of heavy industry and agile startups has given Israel an outsized market share. Industry assessments by India’s MarketsandMarkets, Texas-based Frost & Sullivan, and the Economic Development and Research Center (EDAM), an Armenian think tank, identify Israel as one of the leading producers of counter-unmanned-aircraft-system (C-UAS) technology worldwide.

EDAM noted in a recent report that “in the Middle East, Israel looms large as the primary leader in the sector,” while Frost & Sullivan describes Israel’s C-UAS industry as “one of the most innovative and dynamic in the world, given the range of dramatic tactical aerial threats to Israel’s national security.” The reports cite Israel’s consistent export growth and early investment in integrated radar, jamming and interception systems as key factors behind its dominance in the field.

Offensive drone tech

Israel’s dominance in counter-drone technology is matched by its parallel rise as a producer and integrator of offensive and tactical unmanned systems. The Modern War Institute noted the immense diversity of drone platforms currently in use by the IDF, including hand-launched Skylark reconnaissance drones, backpack-deployed Maoz (Firefly) loitering munitions, and the Lanius and Ninox micro-quadcopters that can autonomously navigate tunnels and enclosed structures

Israel has also reorganized parts of its military to integrate new technologies more efficiently. Formations such as the IDF’s Multidimensional Unit (Unit 888), nicknamed Refaim or “Ghosts,” were created as a technology-forward combined-arms formation to test tactics and systems that fuse infantry, robotics, sensors and aerial intelligence. The unit acts as a testbed for integrating drones, robots and data-driven mapping into small-unit operations, informing wider IDF doctrine.

Behind this operational shift is an industrial surge. In 2024, Israel’s Defense Ministry issued what officials described as the largest single tender for tactical drones in IDF history, approximately 20,000 systems to be delivered over several years to infantry, engineering and intelligence units.

Israel’s drone industry is further anchored by a mature ecosystem of medium- and large-scale unmanned aircraft that dominate global export markets. Flagship platforms include the IAI Heron family—long-endurance UAVs capable of multi-sensor intelligence collection and strategic reconnaissance—and Elbit Systems’ Hermes series, which serves in dozens of foreign air forces and has logged more than two million operational flight hours. Rafael’s Zik (Skylark 3 and 4) heavy-lift and high-altitude surveillance capabilities, and satellite control for beyond-line-of-sight missions, further supplement Israel’s large UAV fleet.

Already by 2013, A Frost & Sullivan report described Israel as the “world’s largest exporter of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).” In 2017, an assessment by RUSI stated that Israel “accounted for more than 60 percent of all international UAV exports between 1985 and 2016.” Newer studies continue to place Israel among the world’s leading suppliers of military-grade UAVs.

Battlefield experience

What separates Israel from other high-tech arms producers is not only its hardware, but its battlefield experience. Israeli defense officials and foreign observers alike acknowledge that the country’s constant exposure to drone warfare has created an ideal environment for testing new technologies and tactics. A recent report in Isra-Tech magazine labeled the country “a living laboratory for drone technologies.” Itzik Huber, an executive of the Israeli defense technology company UVision, added that Israel’s many conflicts mean “we get the operational knowledge and operational debriefing very fast and very efficiently.”

Israeli UAV know-how has become an export in itself. Israeli instructors have trained Western and NATO personnel in detecting, classifying and neutralizing small unmanned systems. Counter-drone techniques first practiced in Israel are now built into NATO joint exercises and integrated base-defense trials. This experience and interoperability have made Israeli suppliers default partners in NATO’s ongoing C-UAS capability program, which aims to harmonize sensors and response protocols across member states.

In parallel, Israel’s operational lessons are filtering into European military training. Officers from Germany’s Bundeswehr and the Polish Armed Forces have participated in exchange programs hosted by Israeli manufacturers, studying how real-time drone surveillance and rapid-response loops shorten the “sensor-to-shooter” cycle.

Moser explained that the battlefield testing and experience make Israeli weapons platforms unmatchable by other suppliers. “The unique advantage of Israel is that it fights while it innovates. Every system deployed in combat becomes a data point for the next generation,” she said. 

Europe’s double standard

While the continent hosts some of Israel’s harshest critics, Israeli defense tech continues to be employed in the defense of Europe’s critical infrastructure. Startups such as D-Fend Solutions and Sentrycs have supplied electronic-takeover and detection systems for major European airports and government facilities, providing technical guidance on standard operating procedures for law enforcement and air-traffic-control agencies.

The British Ministry of Defense and several other European security agencies have also procured large-scale Israeli C-UAV platforms, including Rafael’s Drone Dome.

Smaller European states are also leaning on Israeli suppliers: Estonia and the Czech Republic have deployed Elbit and IAI counter-drone radars, while Italy’s Leonardo DRS now co-produces AESA radar components with Israeli partners for E.U. homeland-security projects.

European governments have been buying not only Israeli surveillance drones but also weapon-capable UAVs and loitering munitions. In 2025, the German government moved to buy three Heron drones for nearly €1 billion ($1.15 billion), expanding its fleet despite political pressure over Israel’s Gaza campaign. Seven Watchkeeper X systems, tactical UAVs based on Israel’s Hermes 450 and supplied by Elbit under a U.K.-Israeli joint venture, are set to be delivered to Romania in 2026 under an agreement worth 1.89 billion lei (about $410 million).

Germany’s Rheinmetall has partnered with Israeli firm UVision to ramp up European production of Hero loitering munitions, underscoring that Israeli-designed offensive UAV technology is now embedded not only in European arsenals, but in their industrial base as well.

 Moser observed that “when a government needs to protect itself, it will protect itself. No one is going to say that they are not going to buy an Israeli detection system and instead let Russian drones get into their country.”

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