Report: Israel ranks first in the world in the supply of suicide drones

Israel has been the world’s leading supplier of roving weapons (suicide drones) for the past 18 years – according to a study published by researcher Molly Campbell at the CNAS (Center for a New American Security).

In the report that reviews the trends in the field between the years 1995-2023, diverse trends emerge. While the demand for military drones of all types grew, Israel took the lead in the field of roving weapons, while Turkey quickly took the lead in the field of attack drones. While attack drones activate weapons that are intended to attack a target, suicide drones explode on them.

Turkey entered the market only in 2018, and according to the study – it made more deliveries of attack drones than any other country (47). For the sake of comparison, China made 34 deliveries, the USA – 12, Iran – 8, and Israel – 6. The major purchasers of attacking drones during the review period of the report were the United Kingdom (9 suspicions), Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (7 each), Algeria (6), as well as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (5).

The wars that boosted demand

Turkey benefited from the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, because Kiev widely uses Bayraktar TB2 drones. In 2022, there were 98 drone transfers worldwide – more than any other year. After that, the number dropped to 56 in 2023. A decade earlier, in 2012, only 27 drone transfers were carried out. Since then, conflicts broke out such as the civil war in Libya, the second Karabakh war in 2020, and as mentioned the war in Ukraine which boosted demand.

Israel leads, as mentioned, in the area of ​​stray weapons between 1995-2023. During this period, Israel provided 22 shipments of stray munitions, more than Iran (17), the US (6), Poland (4) and Australia. Much can be learned from both Israeli and Iranian supplies. The Houthi rebels received an equal amount of supplies (7) of Ukraine out of all countries, followed by India (5) and Azerbaijan (4), Israel’s top ten clients include other affiliates of Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Azerbaijan is a very prominent security customer of Israel. It can be found in its possession, among other things, anti-tank missiles from the Spike series of Rafael, UAVs from the Hermes series of Elbit, and roving weapons from the Air Industry’s Harrop model. Also, the aerospace industry signed an agreement last October with the Azercosmos agency for the sale of two OptSat500 satellites, which are intended to replace the “Azersky” satellite made by Airbus, with which communication was cut off in April last year.

Drones worth millions of shekels

At the same time, there is a very broad security cooperation between Israel and India. During the month of May, for example, two ships that left the port of Chennai in India crossed the Strait of Gibraltar on their way to Israel. Borkum carried to Ashdod port 20 tons of rocket engines, 12.5 tons of rockets with warheads, 1,500 kg of explosives and 740 kg of materials designated for artillery, according to documents to which the Al-G network was exposed arena. After her, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Marianne Danica passed through the same place, with 27 tons of explosives.

All this, while the big defense companies are also producing in India. Already in December 2018, Elbit launched a collaboration with the defense and space arm of the Indian Adani Group for the production of drones of the Hermes 900 and 450 models. During the war, Hezbollah intercepted drones of both models. The price of the Hermes 900, according to foreign publications, may reach 6.85 million dollars per unit, and the price of the Hermes 450 to 2 million dollars.

In March of this year, the aerospace industry launched its Indian subsidiary, ASI, in New Delhi. The company was established as part of a collaboration with DRDO, the defense research and development body of the Indian government. ASI has 50 employees, 97% of whom are Indian citizens. It also allows the aerospace industry to comply with India’s decision from about three years ago, according to which companies are not only required to become Indian, they are also required to trade in rupees to conduct business.