On October 13, four IDF soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base near Binyamina. This is the deadliest drone attack in twelve months carried out by the Iranian-backed terrorist group.
In recent months, drone attacks against Israel have become more serious and deadly. For instance, in July, a Houthi drone struck Tel Aviv. In early October, two IDF soldiers were killed and twenty-four wounded in a drone attack targeting the Golan.
In addition, Hezbollah launched two drones targeting Herzliya during Yom Kippur. One of them struck a building.
As drone attacks become more deadly, it’s worth asking what is known about the types of drones that Hezbollah and Iranian proxies are using in their attacks.
Hezbollah is estimated to have more than 2,000 drones of various types. It continues to acquire and build them. It has carried out several hundred UAV attacks on Israel since October 2023.
Most of these involve kamikaze drones, which are basically made up of a long tube-like fuselage, a warhead at the front of the tube, and a propeller at the back. Hezbollah drones appear to have a range that can reach Tel Aviv.
Observation drones
Hezbollah has deployed various types of drones to conduct surveillance. Not much is known about all the types that Hezbollah has, but the terrorist group likely uses commercial quadcopter drones and has also developed other types of small drones that can film video and collect intelligence. It has used these to fly over IDF bases in the Galilee and the Golan, and Hezbollah has twice released footage taken from its surveillance drones.
Kamikaze drones
The concept of using a drone as a kamikaze weapon is relatively new. Iran and groups like Hezbollah initially had drones that they used for surveillance. However, when they sought to put munitions on the drones, such as how the US put missiles on the Predator drone, they ran into challenges.
It’s not easy to navigate a drone with a munition where you need a man-in-the-loop to drop the bomb or launch the missile from the drone. It usually means have some kind of communications link, and that might mean having satellites and other technology that Hezbollah does not have access to.
That would limit Hezbollah to line-of-sight control of its drones if it tried to put weapons on them.
Iran and Hezbollah’s simple solution was to turn the drone into a weapon similar to a cruise missile. These types of drones are called “loitering munitions.” This is because they are a “munition,” but unlike a cruise missile, they can fly in a pattern and “loiter” over a target.
Hezbollah drones don’t necessarily have all these capabilities. They are unlikely to be able to fly in circles and “loiter” because it is unlikely that a person is guiding them.
They are more likely pre-programmed with a flight path and destination. Hezbollah collects intelligence on sites it wants to attack and then launches drones with a flight path to attack them. The drone is on a one-way mission, and if it doesn’t hit its target, it will hit something nearby. It must be shot down before impact.
The Houthis and Iraq militias that are backed by Iran have all acquired various types of these one-way attack drones. The Iraqi militias have used drones to target US forces, including a CIA hanger in Erbil and also US soldiers in Jordan.
Mirsad-1 and Mirsad-2
The Hezbollah Mirsad family of drones is based on Iranian drone types called the Ababil and Mohajer.
The Ababil and Mohajer are both part of larger families of Iranian drones. Hezbollah acquired these types of drones decades ago and then refined them for its own use. Photos of the Mirsad generally show it with a long tube-like fuselage and longer wings at the back compared to shorter wings at the front.
Depending on the type being used, the Mirsad may carry up to 40kg of munitions and has a range of some 120km. This would have enabled it to carry out the attack on October 13.
The Mirsad-1 drone type is based on the Ababil-T, developed in Iran. The Mirsad-2, which Hezbollah has used, looks more like a small airplane with a double-tail section and is modeled on the Mohajer-4 Iranian drone.
Ababil
Hezbollah has used Iranian drone types, such as the Ababil. It has sometimes repackaged them or changed them to create local models.
The Ababil itself has undergone many changes as the Iranians modernized it. It has a version that is launched from the back of a truck. This version also has long wings in the back and shorter wings in the front, with a propeller at the back of the fuselage at the aircraft’s tail. The drone is around six meters long.
The Ababil-T version of this drone appears to be the export version that later became the Hezbollah Mirsad and the Houthi Qasef-1 drone. This means that once Iran discovered this model of the Ababil, it realized its proxies could quickly build it.
The Ababil-T has a similar range and munition payload to the Mirsad that Hezbollah likely copied from it. That means it has a 40kg munition payload and a range of between 100 and 120km, as well as a flight speed of up to 370km an hour. The Alma Research and Education Center says this drone is the main one in Hezbollah’s arsenal.
Shahed
The main Iranian export model of kamikaze drones today is the Shahed-136. This drone weighs around 200kg and has up to a 50kg warhead. It has a wingspan of 2.5 meters and is around 3.5 meters long. It has a significant range estimated to exceed 2,000km.
The Shahed 136 was first spotted in Yemen in January 2021. It was also exported to Russia by the Iranians for use against Ukraine in the war that began in 2022. As such, the Shahed 136 became the workhorse of Iran and its proxies in spreading terror. The Shahed can be moved around in a shipping container and is easy to launch.
It is designed like a large flying V with a delta-wing shape. It has an engine at the back and a warhead at the front. Its relatively simple design and ease of transport make it ideal for groups such as Hezbollah.
Evidence from drone attacks on Israel
It is not always easy to figure out what type of drone was used in an attack by Hezbollah or other Iranian proxies. Sometimes, images of the drone can be seen prior to the strike.
For instance, the Houthi drone that struck Tel Aviv in July was caught on video flying over the water. It looks like a small plane, with what seems to be a long wing and a loud propeller at the back.
The Houthis published a video of this drone, which seems to show a drone several meters long with a wing-like an airplane and then a tail that has two small stabilizers that are at angles to the aircraft rather than sticking out horizontally. This kind of tail section is similar to the US Reaper and other drones.
A video of a drone flying over Herzliya on Yom Kippur shows a similar tail section. This means that the design types of many of these drones have become similar among the Iranian proxies.
By contrast, the drone that struck Arab al-Aramshe in April was also caught on video. It looks like an Iranian Ababil-T with a large tail and smaller wings in the front.
Karrar and other types of Hezbollah drones
According to reports at the Alma center, the terrorist group Hezbollah has likely acquired other drones as part of its 2,000-drone arsenal.
“We estimate that Hezbollah most likely has additional advanced UAV models, such as the ‘Mohajer,’ ‘Shahed,’ and ‘Samed’ (KAS-04), ‘Karrar,’ and ‘Saegheh’ types.”
According to Israel HaYom “the Karrar is an Iranian-made drone based on the American jet-powered Striker drone. The Karrar is a kind of “poor man’s fighter jet” because it combines suicide attack capabilities, bomb dropping, and even air-to-air missile launches against aircraft. Its range is relatively long, and Hezbollah apparently attempted to use it during the Syrian civil war.”
A CNN study also said that Hezbollah likely has the Quds Yasir type of drone with a 200km range. This strange-looking aircraft consists of one large wing several meters long with a short fuselage.
CNN also says that Hezbollah has the Shahed 129, which may have a 2,000km range. Originally the Iranians developed this drone as a copy of the Israeli Hermes 450, which is the workhorse of the Israeli drone fleet.
Later models show that this drone also has a V-shaped stabilizer at the tail and looks similar to a US Predator or other similar drones that resemble small airplanes.
