Starting in July 2024, Hezbollah began launching Shahed 101 type suicide UAVs with electric motors towards Israel. Hezbollah is using these UAVs in recent months due to the advantages they offer, as we have previously reported.
It is likely that the UAVs are shipped from Iran in parts and assembled by Hezbollah in a simple and quick manner. This is most probably not an improvised solution, but rather a UAV whose parts are systematically built and assembled on a production line.
Key components of the UAV are available for purchase on the civilian market at a cost of a few hundred dollars. These include various motors from Japanese and German manufacturers, among others, and a flight computer produced by a Chinese company (similar computers have been found in Russian UAVs that crashed in Ukraine).
It should be noted that standard piston engines with wooden propellers, which Hezbollah frequently uses, weigh seven times more (2.84 kg) compared to the aforementioned motors (405 grams) equipped with a plastic propeller on the Shahed 101 type.
Not all UAVs are equipped with cameras.
As has been documented in other cases, both in Israel and in Ukraine, Yemen, and other conflict zones, there is a notable trend of using civilian components repurposed for military use. They are cheap, easy to purchase and highly cost effective.
