By Arie Egozi
the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Israeli Police and its subordinates are not operationally prepared to deal with the threat of malicious drone activities from security and criminal perpetrators, according to a new report from the Israeli State Comptroller, Netanyahu Engelman.
The Comptroller says that Israel’s lack of preparation for protection against possible drone attacks is due, among other issues, to funding problems. “The audit found that the development of the technological response to dealing with the threat was delayed due to budgetary difficulties and did not meet all the needs of all security factors and regulatory processes,” said the report.
The new report is a follow-up to a similar November 2017 study. Many of the conclusions from this earlier report were not published for censorship reasons and the Comptroller says most of these recommendations have not been implemented.
Over recent years the number of drones flying in Israel has increased as a result of continuing low costs and improved performance in range, cargo-carrying capabilities and navigational accuracy. This has increased the threat of criminal and terrorist drone activities, according to the report.
Also, a dispute between the Israeli Air Force and the CAA has resulted in many drones not being registered and many operators not being required to have a permit. The Comptroller noted that while some progress has been made in resolving the dispute since the last issues the response has been “too little and too late”.
Most of the shortcomings highlighted by the Comptroller relate to disagreements over responsibilities between the police and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) for dealing with the drone threat.
(Image: Shutterstock/ Ingo Bartussek)
