IDF Israeli Defence Forces Skylark UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in action
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Focus - Skylark UAV in Israeli Army IDF |
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| Friday, February 3, 2012, 02:56 PM | |||
| IDF Israeli Defence Forces Skylark UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in action. | |||
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combat team opens the bag and takes out the first plane. Then a second,
and then a third. Another soldier procures the ground antenna and the
computer display from his bag, which will control the UAV and display
reconnaissance on the hostile village. Four soldiers have just deployed
a miniature intelligence aircraft in enemy territory. |
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Ten
minutes after reaching their position, the squad already has a UAV hovering
silently between the green hills of Ramot Menashe, simulating Lebanese
territory, under January’s heavy grey skies. The soldiers are at
the end of their training, and already stand far beyond the imaginary
border. In the nearby village of Elyakim, other soldiers pretend to be
the Hezbollah operatives they are keeping an eye on via their UAV. This
is the final exercise before becoming an operational squad. |
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| When
the soldiers finish their course, their squad will join different units
for various tasks. “One day it’s the 13th battalion, the next
it’s tanks, then paratroopers. Our team is a brother in arms to
every battalion, going in with them and fighting with them without distinction.
You have to constantly adapt yourself to new tasks, each with a different
character. You have to accompany a force and make sure their path is clear,
guarantee that there is no one around the corner, track the movement of
terrorists who can plant explosives in the road and get a photo ID on
them. The tactical intelligence we have delivered has thwarted a lot of
terrorist activity, from stone-throwing to attacks. After the first couple minutes of testing the wind in the air, the squad begins navigating the complex coded maps and leading the UAV towards its next goal, the village. Each soldier knows how to take on every role in the team - the person who launches could be manning the computer next time, it’s all up to the officer. The battalion commander responsible for the squad follows the entire training exercise with a high-tech watch that delivers the images from the plane, giving him all the information he needs. He knows what’s over the next ridge and what lies two or three miles down the road. |
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Despite
the heavy winds, the UAV performs reconnaissance for more than half an
hour. When the team decides to land the craft, it moves in wide circles
and flies over the hill to the soldiers’ location. After a few minutes
you can hear the buzz of the UAV in the air, and shortly afterwards the
craft lands in the wet grass with the assistance of an airbag. Shortly
after, they will be able to insert a new battery in the plane and start
a whole new mission (during the course, the soldiers are trained to carry
half of their body weight). However, now the soldiers store all the equipment
within minutes and begin moving again. “This is a tool that is cheap to maintain with a very strong encryption that doesn’t need a landing strip,” says the company commander. “These advantages come with the most important thing - the huge amount of operational success in each region of the country. Whoever tries to harm our troops, wherever- we see it. We’re flying alongside the troops and understand their operations, allowing us to contribute more to the operation, and the contribution comes right then and there, and on a daily basis. Since the first operational service of seven squads in Operation Cast Lead, the force has grown immensely. Today, there is no operational activity that we are not a part of." |
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