UAV round-upFrench launch UAVs to stop Israeli flights over Lebanon

Published 11 December 2006

International peacekeepers seek to ease tension over Israeli surveillance activities said to violate cease-fire; Israelis charge French with trying to undermine local UAV industry

Here’s a business tip that’s only for the most aggressive of operators. As our readers know, the Israelis have been frequently accused in the past few months of violating the airspace over Lebanon. Even more damning, Israeli pilots have been accused of approaching a French naval boat taking part in the international peacekeeping mission. the Israelis, for their part, have said that they need active intelligence to prevent exactly what the war in Lebanon was supposed to put an end to: the smuggling of weapons from Iran and Syria.

In an effort to resolve the issue, the French Armed Forces has deployed a surveillance UAV squadron in southern Lebanon. This would theoretically obviate the need for Israeli overflights. The Israelis have rejected that proposal. “According to Israeli defense sources, the French initiative is also meant to prove the operational capabilities of its UAVs so they can compete against Israeli defense industries on the global UAV market,” reported the Jerusalem Post.

-read more in Yaakov Katz’s Jerusalem Post report