Israel has approved deliveries of anti-drone systems to Ukraine

Israel has approved export licenses for the sale of anti-drone systems to Ukraine. With their help, you can counter the Iranian drones used by Russia, he writes Axios with respect to Israeli and Ukrainian officials.

This happened for the first time since the beginning of the invasion. The sale was approved by Defense Secretary Yoav Gallan and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in mid-February as Israel was reviewing its war policy at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the sources said.

Licenses have been approved for Elbit and Rafael. Officials saw the move as a change of Israeli policy as the technique is defensive in nature and does not use live fire. In addition, delivering these systems to Kiev is in the interest of Israel, which wants to see how effective they are in the fight against Iranian drones.

Previously, Tel Aviv had tried not to provide military aid to Ukraine, fearing that such a move could create tensions with Russia and harm Israel’s security interests in Syria.

Anti-drone systems have a range of 40 km and can be located near power plants or other important facilities. A delegation from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has already visited Israel, watched the presentation and assessed the need for the purchase. The contract has not yet been signed. »Ukraine is interested in these systems, but considers them less important, as so far drones have been intercepted in 75-90% of cases. What we really need is a missile defense system,” the Ukrainian official said.

Israel is helping Ukraine behind the scenes on a much larger scale than is generally known, Israeli ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor said in January. “ANDThe army regularly blocks Iranian arms shipments to Syria and Lebanon, including Iranian drones and missiles that Russia is using in Ukraine,” the diplomat said.

Officially, Israel only confirms humanitarian support for Kiev, refraining from supplying arms, despite the requests of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pressure from the US administration.

In November, Israel allowed NATO countries to supply Ukraine with weapons systems containing Israeli components, and also agreed to finance “strategic materials” for several million dollars.