Israel’s Defensive Breakthrough is America’s Opportunity

Drones are increasingly prominent features of modern warfare, both expendable and hard to detect.

The drone that struck Israel’s Ramon Airport on Sept. 7 was just one of thousands the country has faced from the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran. Drones have been ubiquitous in the Russia-Ukraine war, as the leaders of both countries have noted. India and Pakistan made liberal use of drones in their May skirmish, with Pakistan launching nearly 400 drones against 36 strategic Indian sites in a single night. Rudimentary Houthi drones, costing several thousand dollars apiece, required the U.S. Navy to expend more than 100 multimillion-dollar interceptors and imposed major costs on global consumers by disrupting maritime trade.

The U.S. is not immune from, and is thus ill-prepared for, such threats. In late 2024, Americans sighted thousands of low-flying drones across the country, including above sensitive sites. Although the U.S. government maintains that the drones were benign, they could have inflicted severe damage. One former U.S. military commander revealed that the country cannot effectively track drones or safely intercept them on American soil. That means more than 20,000 U.S. airports are vulnerable to drones like the one that struck Ramon Airport.

Drones also pose significant risks along America’s borders. Drug cartels regularly test U.S. drone defenses, with a daily average of 300 cartel-flown drones passing within 550 yards of America’s southern border. In 2023, officials seized a single drone inbound from Mexico carrying enough fentanyl to kill tens of thousands of Americans. These drones could also threaten U.S. border officials. Cartels already use drones to drop explosive payloads on Mexican authorities, sometimes fatally.

In addition, U.S. bases and weapons supply routes are critically exposed overseas. Highlighting the twin challenge of detection and identification, let alone interception, an Iran-made drone struck a U.S. base in Jordan in January 2024. Radar detected the drone, which killed three American service members, but troops did not identify it as a threat. In recent weeks, suspected Russian drones have overflown U.S. weapons supply routes in Germany, likely collecting intelligence and posing an implicit danger to America’s ability to resupply its allies.

The United States is acutely aware of these threats but lacks solutions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth noted recently that “drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation” and that “our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year.” Yet while the U.S. military is accelerating efforts to field drones, reliable drone defenses remain elusive. Mr. Hegseth announced plans in August to create a joint interagency counter-drone task force, but it is not yet operational. As the commander of the North American Air Defense Command starkly observed, “We need new systems to counter this threat.”

Fortunately, those systems already exist and are newly battle-tested in Israel. Israel’s laser-based defenses have intercepted dozens of inbound Hezbollah drones, marking a new frontier in drone defense. Israel’s Iron Beam platform, the world’s only combat-proven laser defense, uses up to 100 kilowatts of energy, equivalent to 30 ovens, to down drones from miles away, requiring mere seconds on target. Iron Beam’s mobile variant enables flexible deployment at sensitive sites, while its naval variant helps form a layered air defense. Its cost per intercept is equivalent to roughly two cups of coffee, and it has effectively infinite magazine depth, unlike minimally expendable U.S. interceptors.

Iron Beam is just one such cutting-edge Israeli innovation. Israeli firms are making strides in quantum sensing and artificial intelligence to distinguish the signatures of drones from those of birds. Britain has acquired Israeli drone detection technology, as have other U.S. allies. In 2021, Israeli technology rerouted a suspicious drone approaching Pope Francis and 60,000 worshippers in Slovakia. Israel’s batting average speaks for itself: Israeli defenses downed 98% of more than 150 Houthi drones, 100% of roughly 170 drones in Iran’s April 2024 attack, and 99% of more than 1,000 Iranian drones in June’s war.

Several provisions in the 2026 defense bill under consideration by Congress would help leverage Israel’s pioneering drone defense innovations. These include provisions to increase funding for and broaden the existing U.S.-Israel counter-drone program, establish a bilateral emerging technology program in critical defense areas such as quantum sensing, and create a field office of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit in Israel.

The U.S. must take advantage of Israel’s drone defense adaptations and capabilities, forged under fire by near-daily attacks. Securing the homeland, overseas bases and global supply chains from drone threats will require learning how partners such as Israel have adapted to such threats and converting those lessons into action.