Israeli Air Force Takes Down Foreign UAV With Dogfight Missiles

The Israeli Air Force on Sunday shot down an ‘Iranian-made drone’ that entered the country through the southern border. Two F-16Is used indigenously -produced Python missiles to down the UAV which was first spotted over the Gaza Strip, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich. Preliminary findings show that the UAV was unarmed but carried only a photographic payload. According to Leibovich, the drone was kept under surveillance and followed by Israeli air force jets before it was shot down above a forest in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank. Brig. Gen. Yoav “Poli” Mordechai, Israel's military spokesman, said that investigators have not yet concluded which specific type of UAV was destroyed, from where, precisely, it was launched, and who was responsible. The latest incident is the third time the IAF used air-to-air missiles developed for dogfights with enemy fighter planes to address small, asymmetrical UAV threats.