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What Israel Taught the U.S. about Drones

(Popular Mechanics) Joe Pappalardo - Israel has been at the forefront of UAV development for decades, and taught the U.S. a thing or two about drones. The U.S. Air Force flew unmanned recon drones during the 1970s in Vietnam, but shut down all its UAV funding until the mid-1980s. Israel changed world opinion about UAVs in 1982 when it used small UAVs to trick radar installations into becoming active in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley; manned airplanes then moved in to destroy the radar sites after the unmanned planes revealed their locations. The U.S. realized UAV potential only after the Bekaa Valley campaign. The Defense Department is spending $5.4 billion on UAVs this year alone.
2010-02-26 08:33:28
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