Israel's HIGH-TECH Military Drones & Iron Dome Defense System ¦ Insights ¦ TBN Israel

From David's sling to Iron Dome, Israel's military technologies are going to be revealed on Insights Israel and the Middle East. That's right, our country has an incredible history of combining the technology, the know-how, with warfare, and today we're diving deep exactly into that story, the story of warfare and technology in this country. Join us. Israeli defense technology and tactics have come a very long way since the days of King David, and that is a very good thing. This land has sat at the crossroads of empires for millennia, and many of them have engaged in battle with the people of this land, and the technology and the ability have evolved over time. I'm standing right in front of the Israeli IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, and today we're going deep into that story, the story of the Israeli military from King David until present day. Sometimes decision needs to be done in minutes, so you need to make the right one. The human being has stayed the same capabilities, but technologies all the time progress. You don't yet trust the computer to replace the man, but I would say this is the kind of things we will see in the next years. That was incredibly impressive. Mission accomplished? Wow. Welcome to the facility. Albi Systems is today the major defense company in Israel, building and developing new technologies to support IDF needs to maintain the peace and defense of Israel. Albi Systems is a leading international high technology defense company. Their biggest business unit is UAVs. UAV, which stands for unmanned aerial vehicle, is perhaps the most significant feature in any modernization process of all the armies today. What is the big difference in operating UAVs versus manned or the traditional type of airplane? For example, when you're talking about ISTAR, which is Intelligence Surveillance Targeting and Reconnaissance missions, you can stay airborne above a target for numerous number of hours, days, weeks, sometimes even months. No human being is capable of being airborne for such a long period of time and still, you know, be productive in the mission. They should use UAVs in missions where the man is the limiting factor. The first significant milestone for unmanned aerial vehicles came during the First Lebanon War in 1982. The PLO, or Palestine Liberation Organization, had established a military presence in Lebanon and had been launching attacks on northern Israel from Lebanese territory. They were supported in part by Syrian forces, Israel's other neighbor to the north. In order for Israel to target the PLO and Syrian forces accurately, and not the Lebanese military or civilians, Israel had to be very precise and gather valuable information about enemy positions and movements. I would say the first milestone maybe in the world for real-time intelligence UAVs, we were able to destroy most of the Syrian surface-to-air missiles and basically gain full autonomy of flying above the Lebanese sky with all of the other aircrafts, having helicopters assisting the ground forces, mission aircrafts to jet fighters and whatever. And that was just the beginning. Israel was quick to understand the importance of UAV technology to the IDF and went into mass production. Today, more than 80 percent of all the flight hours carried out by Israeli air forces are made by UAVs. Drones are doing any mission, from special forces, border protection, supporting the artillery, supporting the gunnery, supporting ground forces, intelligent forces, even arrests. They need some eyes in the sky. If it's artillery, for example, or helicopters or jet fighters that want to strike a target, you want to be there before they are doing the striking. You want to make sure there are no civilians in the area. You have to clear it. They will just give you the benefits of the information to know what's going. You said you've been involved in unmanned aerial vehicles for over 25 years. Without going into the mission specifics, which I understand would be classified, what are you able to do now that you weren't able to do back then? I would say that the biggest leap was in the capability of the sensors. Today, we are talking about sensors that can reach almost 200 kilometers. I just want to be specific in what you're saying. You're talking about video image or stills image more than 100 kilometers. Video image in height definition. We can reach, depends on the size of the target, 200 kilometers. To the point of being able to distinguish details on it? Yeah. Wow. Today, we are capable in Airbid to detect thousands of targets at the same time. So simultaneously, you'll get thousands of targets on the screen. One of the payloads that we have in Airbid is called the SkyEye. It has multiple cameras. It's capable of having an image of over 1 billion pixels per frame. Wow. The UAVs keep recording all the information. Let's say you have a facility you want to protect, you have a base in Afghanistan, and any vehicle approaching, you will get an alert. And instantly, you can shift and see the video of this vehicle moving. And you can even do something more, which is quite amazing, actually. You can actually go back in time and see where it came from. At Airbid Systems, there's an answer for everything. Omer shows us just some of their impressive fleet. This is the Skylark 1, today's smallest army UAV in service. So someone carries this in a backpack? Yeah. You hand throw it, and it gives you what we call over-the-hill intelligence, up to 40 kilometers range. When it flies at 1,000 feet, it's impossible to see it. Nobody knows we are there. The bigger brother in the family is the Skylark 3. It gives you more than 15 hours in the sky. It is more for getting intelligence in the range of 100 kilometers. It's very, very efficient. You've shown us UAVs that surveil, and follow, and gather intelligence. But now there's a whole new class of UAVs that does something entirely different. Today, the Skystriker is capable of striking targets. And the big benefit is freedom of navigation. So it's not like a missile or a shell, you're just firing it. It's capable of navigating to the targets, flying above the targets, staying up in the air up to two hours, and if required, aborting the mission and even coming back for landing. So this is the big boy, the 900, right? Yeah. What does this aircraft do? I mean, it's enormous. It carries 400 kilograms of payload. It's capable of flying for more than 30 hours. And since we are using satellite communication, we can just fly as far as we want. The only UAV which has full civil certification, which allows you to use the UAV even in applications which are not military, like in homeland security, protecting sports events and fire protection. So it brings you a lot of benefits and you do it all in one system. Ultimately, it's no surprise Elbit's UAVs from this little country Israel have gained international recognition as valuable assets for defense forces and civilian agencies around the world. Unfortunately, because of our area, it became one of the advantages of our solution, which is unique to Israel. Our system, our combat proven. What does it mean? It means that it already seen combat, came back from combat, learned from mistakes that we did, and we fixed those. And then we went back to combat. Here is your flying suit, some earplugs. As every real pilot, you need to have your name with your flying wings. My wife's going to be proud. Our takeoff will be at 8.05. In case of emergency, exit only after confirmation from the pilot. This is when I'm talking about mission getting aborted, is when you see something like that. You cannot fly through something like that. And then we'll activate the grid. And this makes the experience of flying in complete instrument condition, like flying a day. I'm deeply impressed. So let's get ready to fly. Before we take off, let me explain. Meet Aviel. He's here to unveil the X-Sight, Elbit's revolutionary sighting helmet system. Welcome to the future of aviation. The X-Sight helmet is actually the most advanced helmet right now in the market for helicopter platforms, with a very advanced display technology. Flight data, route on the ground, obstacles, everything is augmented to the pilot's eyes. To that, we add all kinds of sensors from cameras that enable you to fly in a very dark night. Radars can identify obstacles, map the terrain for you, help you to find your landing zone. I mean, I don't know what you would do with that amount of data coming your way. That's where we develop cutting-edge algorithm and technology to identify what is relevant and what is not relevant. We try actually to be as low as possible in the amount of information that actually goes to the pilot at the end. And now I get to see how the X-Sight actually collects all of that data. So this is the baby. Yeah, that's the helmet. It has two projectors, more than 60 degrees field of view. Here you can see the thermal sensor with the cameras that are not affected by light and can see with no lighting at all. It has 11 cameras and the image is stitched together in real time and creates a panoramic view. So anywhere you look, you've already got the image. You don't have to find the image. And it's actually become another crew member in the cockpit that always looks around. The second part is the radar. It's looking at the whole scene at all times, mapping the terrain and looking for obstacles. So you're saying, so the computer that's on board is taking all of this and meshing everything together into one image and also pinpointing in that image, this is what's important for you to see at this moment in time. Exactly. That's incredible. I was told we're going to get to try this in action. Yeah. I'm ready. And now the part I've been waiting for. We're going on a real mission and I get to try this baby out. That was incredibly impressive. Mission accomplished. Wow, deeply impressed. Just seeing everything switching in front of your eyes and one layer on top of the other on top of the other and it's seamless. I can understand why someone would pay a pretty penny for this. Yeah. A hundred percent. We're keeping it real and following protocol to the end. After you've been qualified, you deserve to get the flying lab patch. Here you go. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Fastest qualification of my life. We're sitting here at the balcony of TBN and today we have a special guest, Dr. Uzi Rubin. Dr. Rubin, Shalom and welcome to our show. There's no doubt that in our neighborhoods, we have people who have in their agenda a purpose to destroy Israel. Yes. Let me explain the military strategic environment that changed drastically since the establishment of Israel. Israel was established in war. Our neighbors didn't recognize, didn't agree, including the Palestinians, didn't agree with the partition plan of the United Nations. And we had to face a war. War after war after war after war. And they hope that we live. All this failed to eradicate Israel. Because of that, the hostiles changed the strategy. Their aim is not to defeat the Israel Defense Forces, the military, but to defeat the people of Israel. And because of that, the main threat of Israel, the main threat of Israel today is the stockpiles of thousands, tens of thousands of rockets, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, UAVs that are designed specifically to hit Israel, destroy its infrastructure and kill its citizens. With the limitation that you have, can you tell us what Israel does in the last 20 years to protect itself? What Israel has been doing in the technological area is to develop missile defense. We started with the Arrow. It's an Israeli development. Which you were one of the leading... I was the head of the program. I was the guy who was going to be hanged if the program failed. Arrow was conceived and designed first to defeat the Syrians. While we were developing it, we started getting the information through the intelligence that the Iranians are developing missiles that can reach Israel. So the aim shifted from Syrian defense against Syrian to defense against longer range Iranian missiles. It sounds like there is a race in missiles. They build one, we build one. They build one, where is it going to end? It's a race. There is no magic bullet here. Neither for them nor for us. Iron Dome was an example of that. It was an emergency program. A really emergency program because all those rockets coming from Gaza and we had no technology until that time didn't allow us to do it because the flight time of the rockets is so short you don't have time to intercept them. Time is everything here. Fortunately, modern technology is now accelerating everything up. So it could accelerate our defense also. It accelerated our defense. Iron Dome enjoyed the fruits of modern technology. And a closing thought. Something that you want to pass from here. Maybe something that will calm our audience. Something that will encourage our audience. Something that will cause our audience to pray even more for the peace of Jerusalem. I'm an Israeli and a Jew. I am proud of being Jewish. I'm proud of being an Israeli. I bow my head before my departed mother and father who were Zionists. Before anybody heard about Hitler. When did they come here? 1933. Wow. As pioneers and idealists. To build a homeland for the Jewish people. That was the presentation. And it was my privilege. Sometimes I felt that God touched me to be able to lead a major defense project of Israel. And my motto and my work was to defend the people of Israel. Dr. Uzi Rubin, what a great honor. And as you said, I really believe that God has touched you and blessed you with a supernatural brain to do what you did. And to you, our friends, let's continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And that God will use people like Dr. Rubin to protect Israel. Dr. Rubin, what a great honor. Thank you and a warm shalom. Shalom, shalom. I'm on my way to the Galilee to visit the ancient abandoned city of Yodfat, where I'll be meeting the archaeologist Moti Aviam. Hi, hi, how are you? Good. Good to see you. Let's see your site. Over the course of six excavation seasons, Moti and his team unveiled the remnants of one of history's most heroic battles on this land. This is the place of the first battle between Jews and Romans in the first Jewish revolt. Frame this conversation for us. What is sort of a snapshot of what's happening around us in the country? The Romans are here. It is still under Herod the Great. Rome decided to change the ruling system. No more Jewish local kings. And the relationship between the Jews and the Roman authority started to deteriorate. The Galilee was controlled by a local Jewish governor, Joseph, son of Matthias. Later on, Josephus Flavius. In the summer of 67, he came to command the first battle between Jews and Romans in the first Jewish revolt. The Jewish War, authored by Josephus Flavius, stands as the only comprehensive account of the Great Revolt. Within its pages lies a detailed narrative of the siege of Yodfat. However, its accuracy has been a longstanding question among historians. Josephus was here with no doubt. The excavations of Yodfat proved that Josephus' descriptions are very accurate. We dig here and we can continue and look step by step of his description and what we find in the field. According to Josephus, he fortified 19 settlements and prepared them for a war. And we found the wall all over the site. We proved that the wall at Yodfat was built for the war. After fortifying Yodfat, Josephus assembled a Jewish army. Army of farmers. It was old weapons that he found and was a weapon that was prepared by the blacksmith of the Galilee. They all believed that God is with them and they will be able to defeat the Roman army. He says that the Romans built a siege ramp. One day when I was walking up and down the hill, I realized that there is a chunk of something that looked like a cement. So we decided to dig to see what it is and we came upon the remains of the ramp. Josephus and his low-tech, untrained Jewish army came up with innovative tactics to stay in the game. When the Romans are creating what they call the tortoise shape, you see there all the shields. The shields on the side, the shields on the top and the shields at the front. This is the way you approach the wall. Throw stones, nothing happens. You shoot arrows, nothing happens. And then he said, I had an idea. He said to bring all their olive oil. They boiled the oil and pour it from the wall on the Roman soldiers and that goes in between the shields and burn them down. We know this was a heavy war for the Romans. They did not expect the Jews to fight like this. The most heartbreaking discovery of the site, unfortunately, validates the tragic narrative by Josephus beyond doubt. The Romans committed a heavy massacre of Jews in the streets. He speaks about rivers of blood running down the hill. Many scholars, historians all the way said, ah, that's exaggerating of Josephus. We discovered mass burials at Yodfat. Some of the bones carried cut marks, especially the bones here in front of the arm. Self-defense. That's exactly what you do when someone hitting you with a sword. That's why these cut marks are here on the bones. Let's assume that we don't have Josephus' description. There is no book that's called Jewish War. I would have said, I'm digging a first century Jewish town that suffered a Roman army attack and there was a heavy massacre here. When we published the story about finding the mass graves, officers from the Chief Rabbinate of the army came over here. We re-dug the bones on the floor and they took it to the pit where the mass grave was found. They buried it there and said prayers. The Israeli army in which I served, my children served and my grandchildren serving are commemorating the warriors of 67. They lost, but we remembered. They lost, but we are here. It's a very powerful scene. Only Josephus survived to share the tragic tale. Josephus said, and I escaped and I jumped into a cave and suddenly I see around it the 40 elders of the town. And he tells his 40 elders, you know, we lost. Let's surrender and we'll give up. And they said, no, no, no. It's better to commit suicide. It's against everything. It's against human behavior and especially it's against Jewish law. You're not allowed to kill yourself. All the God who created you will take you. And then they drew lots. Each one had to kill the other. And at the end, there are two. As I read the story, this guy had to kill Josephus and Josephus convinced him not to do so. And they both go out and give themselves to the Romans. Moti's personal story is surprisingly similar to that of Josephus, making him the perfect archaeologist to unearth and understand the secret of Yodfat. I was a tank commander in the 73 war in front of the Syrians and we three tanks in our post. We fought for a few hours until we lost all our tanks. In the evening, we found shelter in a small cement room and the Syrians climbed up the hill. The paratrooper's officer said, if someone is capable, go out and surrender to the Syrians. And one of our soldiers stood up and went outside. The minute he went out, we had shootings. So the officer said, I'm not going to take any prisoners. They're going inside and slaughter us. Therefore, each one will have a grenade in his hand. Take the safety pin out. And when the Syrians are inside, I tell you, and we're going to blow the bunker with them. We decided to commit suicide, but the Syrians didn't come inside. So I was there once and we continued living. But that's something that enabled me a little bit to understand Josephus' decision to stay alive. I'd say it's a little more than a little bit. Not many people in the world can say I fully understand the life story of Josephus Flavius standing on a hilltop in northern Israel, debating whether he should commit suicide because he knows that all hope is gone. And you lived that. And not only that, you come and dig up that same story. That's an incredible story. That's the game of history. Hello, this is Mati here in Jerusalem with TBN Israel. This is Yair Pinto from TBN Israel here in Jerusalem. TBN Israel is keeping viewers informed with Israel-focused news, culture, and what God is doing in this land. Support TBN Israel today online at tbn.org slash Israel. Thank you.