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The Israeli systems that seek to stop a terrorist attack on Abu Dhabi Israel today

2022-01-19T14:01:18.481Z


The Houthi skimmers' attack this week was just a promo of what could happen in the future in major cities around the world. • The terrorists are able to learn on YouTube how to build skimmers, load explosives and send them to their destination. The next attack


Three dead, six wounded and damage to several warehouses and fuel tanks, this is the direct price of the Houthi skimmer attack, which took place last Monday, which focused on Abu Dhabi International Airport and an industrial area in the city.

But this attack also has a much higher indirect cost - which includes the damage to tourism, business and the economy - and especially the undermining of civil security.

The tiny planes, which crashed in the heart of the UAE laden with explosives, may be just the first wave in an ongoing attack by Yemeni rebels on the Arab state, the pioneer of the normalization agreement with Israel.

This is not the first time the Houthis have launched tiny aircraft armed with explosives to drop terrorism. In 2019, for example, such tools caused an estimated several hundred million dollars in damage to Saudi Arabia's national oil companies, causing world oil prices to rise and fuel supplies to be hurt. In another attack, Iraqi militias managed to blow up similar skimmers inside the Saudi palace compound in Riyadh. The low price of the tiny aircraft, the fact that they can be easily purchased or built, and the simple training procedure of the operators, make the explosive gliders a particularly accessible weapon - which also appeals to the terrorist organizations that sit within Israel's borders. Hamas and Hezbollah have already tried to launch various types of armed drones against Israel, often without significant success. Nevertheless, the recent attack on Abu Dhabi is worrying. Is it still safe to visit the United Arab Emirates? ? And can they be stopped before they cause damage?

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has already sent a message to Abu Dhabi's heir, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed, stressing that Israel is ready to provide the United Arab Emirates with intelligence and security assistance to protect its citizens from similar attacks by the Houthi rebels - but it turns out that Israeli companies Already possess appropriate defense systems that already help protect sensitive installations from skimmer attacks around the world.

"When we talk about explosive gliders," explains Itzik Hoover (51), CEO of Skylohn of the Avnon Group, which manufactures SKYLOCK DOME, a skimmer protection system. However, they are all characterized by a wingspan of less than a meter and twenty.

These aircraft know how to maneuver at low altitude, below the altitude at which most radars operate, and have a low radar cross section, so it is very difficult to detect them.

In addition, their flight range may reach several tens of kilometers, so they can also be operated from a distance. "

SKYLOCK DOME system by the Skylock company from the Avnon Group, Photo: Guy Dan Gur

Because of their tiny size and different flight shape, the usual radars are "blind" to the glider threat: "These tools penetrate through loopholes that exist in regular detection systems, which simply 'sift' them out.

Thus, in my estimation, tools sent by Hezbollah members from Lebanon and Jordan, and Hamas from Gaza, were able to penetrate into Israeli airspace.

The problem is that these are tools that are easy to buy or manufacture, and then 'load' on them with a cargo of 7-5 kg ​​of explosives. In fact, you can even find videos on YouTube that explain how to make such tools. They are easy to fly, "They are a complex threat that requires a specific response, and we know how to do that."

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Like other protection systems, the skimmer protection system is a multi-layered system that includes various means of detection and interception - which allow electronic interception as well as physical interception: Or between the glider and the GPS satellite, and also radars that know how to focus on the glider and point an optical system at it that tracks it and also knows how to recognize it.

The system makes it possible to block all the communication frequencies of the glider and drop it, and also to take control of it - thus snatching it from the operator's hands.

If the glider still managed to penetrate all the layers of protection, our system also knows how to send attack gliders that hit it directly and knock it down. "

Itzik Hoover CEO of Skylock Avnon Group, Photo: Oren Cohen

According to Hoover, the system produces an impenetrable protection dome within a radius of about ten kilometers and is capable of detecting threats from a greater distance. Costing $ 4-3 million, developed in Israel and manufactured in Israel and Denmark, it has already been sold to many countries around the world, including Dubai in the UAE, and Mexico - which has acquired a system to deal with criminal organizations after drug cartels used bomb-carrying skimmers against soldiers and police.

The Ethiopian government intelligence agency has also purchased Skylock systems - which went into operation minutes after they were installed in the capital: "When we arrived in Addis Ababa to set up the defense systems we sold," Hoover said, "suddenly someone picked up a skimmer and started spying on us. It's a skimmer we picked up to test the system, and we were sure it was a skimmer they picked up to test us. But in a moment we realized it was someone outside. Our system knows how to stop the skimmer, but more than that, it also knows where the operator is, so "Individuals, the security forces have already surrounded the operator's house and arrested him."

Detection of multiple threats simultaneously

As for Lior Segal (42), CEO and founder of Third Eye Systems, it all started with Operation Defensive Shield: "I was a paratrooper at the time and we received information from the GSS about two wanted men hiding in a building in Ramallah. It's a building with dozens of rooms. We started going from room to room to find them. The first threat comes down drastically. "

Then the young staff realized that every fighter needed a "third eye, who would sit on the weapon and identify the enemy" quickly and efficiently, but only later, after his partner Joel, a Magellan, had similar experiences in the Second Lebanon War, they co-founded "Third Eye Systems". Systems that serve as the third eye of the forces on the ground - and help detect threats in a large area cell quickly and efficiently - including explosive drones.

The third-eye solution for explosive drones such as those that attacked Abu Dhabi airport is an electro-optical system that is suitable for day and night conditions and allows the detection of long-range threats.

The camera is installed in a controlled location, for example on a mast or tall building, and allows the detection of a large number of threats at the same time, even if they are low-flying and fast.

The detection capability is based on artificial intelligence - and the "brain" of the system, called "AI Tesseract", knows how to uniquely combine the information coming from the day and night channels, to detect the threat without human involvement.

The system can also be mounted on skimmers, to further increase the system's coverage area, and it is also suitable for use in autonomous vehicle systems facing the civilian market.

AI Tesseract system - Opgal's optical system, Photo: Opgal

"Our system mimics the human brain," Segal explains, "but unlike a human operator, it never gets tired and never loses alertness. At first no one understood what we were doing, but today we already know that humans have a hard time looking at a screen over time. "Especially when the camera that transmits information to the screen is in motion, and we solved that in the company."

The "Third Eye Systems" system (which began trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange last year) is manufactured entirely in Israel, and is able to detect 93 percent of the threats in a single frame; since the system captures 25 frames per second, its success rates are higher than those of any human operator. We currently have the largest databases regarding thermal identification, "Segal points out," and on them we consistently train our artificial intelligence.

The result is a system that knows how to differentiate between a skimmer and everything else with a very high level of accuracy. "

Lior Segal, CEO of Ein Shlishit, Photo: Yakir Shukron

The AI ​​Tesseract system is already in use in Israel and other countries in the world, but naturally it is not possible to say exactly where.

Soon, so it seems in light of the fear of further future attacks by the Houthis and other terrorist organizations, it will also be activated in Abu Dhabi.

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-01-19

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