Revived air defense battalion to aim new weapons at drone threat in north

The Israeli Air Force says it has revived a defunct air defense battalion to operate new anti-drone systems.

The 946th Air Defense Battalion, which previously operated the US-made Chaparral surface-to-air missile system, had been shuttered in 2003.

A ceremony was held yesterday to rededicate the unit, whose new goal is to “provide a new operational solution… for the threat of UAVs and drones in the northern arena,” the military says.

Hezbollah fired hundreds of drones at Israel from Lebanon during the war, dozens of which made it through Israeli air defenses and caused casualties and damage.

The IDF says the 946th Battalion will be made up of hundreds of soldiers, both male and female, and will be an “integral part” of the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division — responsible for the Lebanon border area.

“They will operate along the border line, at sensitive sites and frontier posts,” the military says, adding that the battalion is also training to operate alongside maneuvering forces inside enemy territory

The IDF does not detail which systems the battalion will be using, but it describes them as “adapted to the threat” and mobile, allowing them to be moved around quickly alongside troops.

Last year, The Times of Israel reported that the IAF was preparing to redeploy gun-based air defense systems to counter Hezbollah’s drones from Lebanon. The IDF used systems like the M163 Vulcan, an air defense machine gun, before it was retired in 2006.

The ground-based systems would be deployed to defend specific points, such as military bases or sensitive infrastructure, against Hezbollah drones. Such gun-based systems are not effective at covering wide areas.

In October, the Defense Ministry said that an in-development high-powered laser interception system, dubbed Iron Beam, is expected to be operational within a year.

The Iron Beam is designed to work in tandem with systems like Iron Dome and shoot down smaller projectiles, like drones.