By Arie Egozi, Autonomy Global – Ambassador for Israel
The U.S. Department of Defense has requested that Israel share detailed lessons learned from the intensive operational use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli Air Force (IAF) in recent campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Israeli UAV fleets logged thousands of combat flight hours in complex, high-threat environments. This data will give Washington a unique opportunity to study how drones are employed at scale in multi-domain, drone-saturated battlefields.
Focus on Layered UAV Combat Operations
According to Brig. Gen. (Res.) Miki Bar of the Israeli Air Force, U.S. defense officials expressed particular interest in how large drone formations are coordinated with manned fighter aircraft during long-range missions. They also want to understand which ISR and strike payloads have proven most effective against distributed, urban and subterranean targets, and how those payloads are rotated across different UAV types in layered operations.
The recent conflicts marked the first time the IDF employed large numbers of diverse UAVs in layered constructs, from high-altitude ISR platforms to small tactical systems supporting maneuver brigades at the edge. Bar, who previously commanded the IAF’s Palmachim Air Base, noted that this layered approach changes how air and ground commanders think about tempo, targeting and risk in real time.
Lessons from Urban and Subterranean Warfare
Israeli officials say the United States can draw major operational and doctrinal lessons from UAV employment in dense urban areas, tunnel-dominated battle spaces and multi-front campaigns against drone-enabled adversaries. The IDF’s experience fighting simultaneously above and below ground, with drones supporting forces on the surface and in tunnel-clearance operations, offers a template for U.S. forces preparing for megacity conflicts and underground threats.
Routine integration of UAVs down to low tactical echelons has effectively turned drones into a default part of every combat action, rather than a niche ISR asset reserved for higher headquarters. Persistent overhead coverage and rapid re-tasking have improved how Israeli ground units synchronize intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and precision strike under restrictive rules of engagement in populated areas.
Advancing All-Domain C2 and Counter-Drone Doctrine
U.S. efforts to build unified, all-domain command and control architectures align closely with Israeli practice linking UAVs, unmanned ground vehicles and a wide array of sensors into a single networked “orchestra.” Lessons from this real-world integration can inform U.S. Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concepts, particularly around dynamic targeting, cross-domain fires and machine-assisted decision-making.
The IDF has also been forced to confront spectrum congestion, electronic protection and backup C2 methods as friendly and hostile drones crowd the same airspace over Gaza. These experiences, combined with U.S. work on swarming and counter-UAS in contested theaters, directly support emerging doctrine on identification of friend or foe among large numbers of small UAVs and on coordinating precision effects close to friendly forces.