Transcript [00:00] It feels like the whole world is at war [00:03] right now. But the way wars are actually [00:04] being fought is changing right under our [00:07] noses and the threat is becoming [00:09] enormous. So big that last month, [00:12] Israel's prime minister held up a model [00:14] of his most advanced fighter jets and [00:17] warned that even against these jets, [00:20] tiny drones are just as deadly. And then [00:24] he ordered that the army go after the [00:25] drones and the people launching them. [00:27] But this is becoming a universal threat. [00:30] Drones and they have been used in war [00:32] for more than 40 years. But as [00:34] technology advances, they have become [00:36] the face of modern warfare. And Israel [00:38] is at the forefront of this facing [00:40] attacks from them from more directions [00:42] than any other country, which is why it [00:43] is racing to build the answers that the [00:46] whole world needs. Welcome to [00:47] geopolitics in the Middle East. Let's [00:49] explain this latest development. We have [00:52] to begin with understanding what a drone [00:54] is and why it has become so deadly. To [00:56] begin with, it's an unmanned aircraft, [00:58] which means it's basically a tiny plane [01:00] with nobody inside. It's cheap, almost [01:03] undetectable, and easy convertible from [01:04] a machine that might film a wedding into [01:07] a serious weapon. The cost of it is low. [01:10] You and I could buy one, and both in [01:12] life, as no one needs to be in it. The [01:15] training is easy, so you can fly it from [01:17] afar, and you can bound it with super [01:20] dangerous explosives. It's almost [01:21] impossible to track if you build it or [01:24] buy it, unlike, let's say, guns. And [01:25] it's very hard to not just detect on [01:27] radar, but to shoot down. They can fly [01:30] as an individual filming enemy territory [01:32] or in swarms going in different [01:34] directions. And it's become a total [01:36] nightmare. Now, to add on to all of [01:38] that, it's not easy to detect if a drone [01:40] is a regular drone flown by a civilian [01:43] or if it's an enemy one due to them [01:45] being so new and the regulation being so [01:47] low on them. So basically, you have a [01:50] deadly enemy that is unlimited, costs [01:53] next to nothing to fly, but is very [01:54] expensive to shoot down with no cost to [01:56] human life on the owner side, and is [01:58] basically untraceable. In warfare, this [02:01] makes this a device like no others. [02:03] Think about it this way. In the Red Sea, [02:05] American warships have been firing $2 [02:07] million missiles to shoot down Houthi [02:10] drones that cost about $2,000 to build. [02:13] So every time you might win a fight in [02:15] the air, you are losing a lot of money [02:18] and the attacker who risks no pilots and [02:20] no soldiers, just consend another one. [02:23] It's not for nothing that Israel has [02:24] declared this one of the most serious [02:26] threats it faces. And this isn't just [02:28] Israel's problem, because drones have [02:30] become the defining weapon of wars [02:32] almost everywhere. In the past 5 years, [02:35] 469 [02:36] armed groups, insurgents, militias, [02:38] gangs, and drug cartels have used drones [02:40] in attacks. And in 2025 alone, they flew [02:43] them into at least 17 countries. It's [02:46] not just small groups, by the way. This [02:47] is now a main function of war. From [02:49] Ukraine to Russia to Sudan, Myanmar, [02:51] Syria, Yemen, Congo, Somalia, Colombia, [02:53] and Mexico, drones are everywhere. No [02:56] one's actually keeping the simple global [02:58] count because part of the problem is [03:00] that you can't really track them. But in [03:01] Sudan, drones killed over 2,500 people [03:04] last year and caused 80% of civilian [03:07] deaths in the first months of this year. [03:09] and in Ukraine, where drones now cause [03:11] an estimated 70 to 80% of Russian [03:14] casualties. In a war that has killed as [03:16] many as 450,000 [03:18] Russian soldiers, drones have almost [03:21] certainly killed well over a 100,000 [03:24] people. And the numbers keep climbing. [03:26] The production numbers back this up. [03:28] Ukraine went from building about 800,000 [03:31] drones in 2023 to more than 4 million in [03:34] 2025. Just do the math because they plan [03:37] to build over 7 million just this year. [03:40] The United States, according to one [03:42] estimate, makes about a 100,000 small [03:44] combat drones a year. Why so few and [03:47] compared to Ukraine? Well, because [03:48] America built its military around a [03:50] small number of expensive advanced [03:52] weapons. And it never really had to [03:53] fight a war where it doesn't have [03:55] control of the sky. It's a drone [03:57] pioneer, but with large, sophisticated [04:00] aircrafts like the Reaper worth about [04:02] $32 million each. several of which the [04:04] Houthies alone have shut down by the [04:06] way. So they're focused more on very [04:08] intense drones. Unfortunately, China [04:11] makes about 90% of the world's small [04:12] civilian drones and many of the parts [04:14] inside them. And because the US has [04:16] restricted those parts for their own [04:18] security reasons, American companies are [04:20] trying to build them from scratch at a [04:21] much higher price. A basic Ukraine drone [04:24] can cost a few hundred and the Pentagon [04:27] expects to pay around $5,000 for a [04:29] similar drone. Now, the Pentagon is [04:31] racing to catch up with a billion dollar [04:33] plan to buy hundreds of thousands of [04:35] these cheaper drones. But this is a new [04:37] strategy and just shows you how much [04:39] things have changed. But let's head back [04:40] to Ukraine for a second where the front [04:42] line has turned into what soldiers call [04:44] a kill zone, a strip that can stretch up [04:46] to about 30 km on each side, where [04:48] drones hunt anything that moves. It's [04:51] literally like sci-fi. Medics near the [04:54] front say they haven't treated gunshot [04:56] wounds in months because almost every [04:58] injury now comes from drones. And many [05:00] of these drones never actually carry [05:02] bombs. They hover around the [05:04] battlefield, find the enemy, and tell [05:06] the artillery exactly where to fire. [05:09] Others dive straight into a soldier or a [05:11] tank. And the next step is swarms of [05:14] dozens of drones flying as one team [05:16] built to overwhelm defenses designed to [05:17] find one target at a time. In August [05:20] alone, over 1,100 drones attacked Russia [05:23] in just one day. Now, you don't have to [05:25] feel sympathetic about Russia because [05:27] it's one of the biggest drone powers in [05:28] the world and manages to down most of [05:31] them. But it's no surprise that Europe [05:33] is getting more and more afraid as days [05:35] pass and are preparing for a potential [05:37] escalation with them. This war is [05:39] serious because drones are the new face [05:41] of modern warfare and it's not just [05:43] changing how soldiers are killed, but it [05:45] can be used in much more sophisticated [05:47] ways. Like in June of 2025 when Ukraine [05:50] ate 117 small drones inside wooden [05:52] cabins loaded into trucks and Russian [05:54] drivers who had no idea what they were [05:56] carrying drove them right up to air [05:58] bases deep inside Russia. The roofs of [06:00] the cabins then opened by remote control [06:02] and the drones flew out and hit Russia's [06:04] long range bombers on the ground. It is [06:06] estimated that around 20 of these [06:09] sophisticated aircrafts were destroyed [06:11] or badly damaged. And each one of the [06:13] attacking drones cost less than $3,000. [06:16] But each bomber cost about 250 [06:19] million. Wrap your head around the [06:21] damage that such a small thing can do to [06:23] such an enormous military investment. [06:26] The lesson for every country and [06:27] especially Israel is that there's no [06:29] such thing as safely behind the lines [06:31] anymore. A drone can launch from inside [06:33] your own country and cause destruction. [06:36] Okay, so we understand the seriousness [06:38] of this threat now. So let's return to [06:40] the subject of this episode. You see, in [06:42] the Middle East, Iran learned this [06:44] lesson long ago. It could never match [06:46] Israel or America's air force. So, it [06:48] built cheap drones by the thousands and [06:51] handed this exact playbook to its [06:53] proxies across the Middle East. When [06:55] America and Israel struck Iran in [06:56] February, Iran fired hundreds of [06:58] missiles, but also drones at its Gulf [07:01] neighbors. And on March 1st, a single [07:03] drone slipped past Kuwait's air defenses [07:05] without a siren and killed six American [07:07] soldiers. The Gulf States are so [07:09] unprepared that Ukraine has to send its [07:11] own experts to defel them. And guys, the [07:14] irony of this is not lost on us. The [07:16] Russia Ukraine war spills out of its [07:18] borders once again. But how did we get [07:21] here? Because drones are not new. In [07:23] fact, they go as far back as the 1970s. [07:26] In Lebanon of 1982, Syria had packed the [07:30] Becka Valley with Soviet anti-aircraft [07:32] missiles, the same kind that had shot [07:34] down Israeli planes in huge numbers in [07:36] 1973. And Syria was sure Israel's air [07:39] force couldn't touch them. So, Israel [07:43] being sophisticated sent in drones [07:45] first. The drones flew over the valley [07:47] as bait. The Syrian operators switched [07:49] on their radars to shoot them down. And [07:50] the moment they did, they revealed [07:52] exactly where all the radars were. In a [07:55] single afternoon, Israel destroyed 17 of [07:57] Israel's 19 missile batteries, and they [08:00] didn't lose a plane. Over the following [08:02] days, Israeli pilots shut down more than [08:04] 80 Syrian jets, and there was no losses [08:06] to Israel's side. It was an early [08:08] glimpse of what drones could do in the [08:10] battlefield. and Israel has been flying [08:12] them, building them, and learning from [08:13] them ever since. It was then that the [08:16] power of these drones became known. And [08:17] yet still, it would take almost 50 years [08:19] for tech to develop to the point that it [08:21] is now. Whilst Israel was one of the [08:23] first to understand the capabilities of [08:25] the drones, not other countries faced [08:27] this threat from as many sides as they [08:29] do. On October 7th, this is a little [08:31] known fact, before a single terrorist [08:33] action even crossed over the fence into [08:35] Israeli territory, kamas used cheap [08:38] drones to drop explosives on Israel's [08:40] observation towers and blinded a border [08:42] barrier that cost more than a billion [08:44] dollars. Israel's leading security [08:46] research centers later concluded that [08:48] the surprise worked partly because [08:50] Israel treated small drones as a minor [08:52] threat next to rockets. These drones [08:54] dismantled the ability to see what was [08:57] happening and allowed for the attack to [09:00] commence. A year later, a Hezbollah [09:02] drone exploded outside the prime [09:04] minister's bedroom window in Cesaria, [09:06] and it didn't even set off a siren. A [09:09] country with decades of experience [09:11] flying drones had stopped taking the [09:13] small, cheap ones seriously. But all of [09:15] that has shifted as this is proving to [09:18] be deadly deadly especially in Lebanon. [09:21] One of the main fronts of Israel's [09:23] seventh front war againstah funded and [09:25] armed of course by Iran learned that [09:27] most of its rockets get shot down by [09:29] Israel's air defense. So it changed [09:31] tactics. It brought in drones tied to a [09:33] spool of fiber optic cables as thin as a [09:35] fishing line, each costing around $300 [09:37] to $400 and built in local workshops [09:39] from 3D printing pots. The signal is [09:42] travel through the wire so there's [09:43] nothing in the air to jam and the [09:45] operator sits up to 20 kilometers away [09:47] completely safe whilst the drones can go [09:50] and hunt Israeli soldiers. Since the [09:52] April ceasefire began, more than half of [09:54] the Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon [09:56] have died in drone attacks. I just want [09:57] to clarify not just the intensity and [09:59] the severity of this, but how quickly it [10:01] is escalating. At the beginning of the [10:03] war, one out of 10 soldiers were killed [10:05] by drones. By the second war with one [10:07] out of four were killed by drones. And [10:09] by the ceasefire now, almost all of the [10:12] deaths have been from drones. Look at [10:15] the math. And Lebanon, by the way, is [10:17] only one direction. From the south, the [10:19] Houthies in Yemen launched drones more [10:21] than 2,000 kilometers away to a lot. And [10:24] they have wounded tens of people. From [10:26] the east, Iran has fired drones at [10:28] Israel by the hundreds, more than 100 in [10:31] a single morning once. And in Gaza, [10:33] Kamas has started using the same fire [10:35] optic drones asah. and security [10:37] officials now fear drones launched from [10:39] Judea and Samaria or even from inside [10:41] Israeli cities. Then there are borders [10:44] as well. We have borders with Egypt and [10:46] Jordan. Smugglers fly guns and drugs [10:49] over those borders and prosecutors say [10:51] Israel has detected thousands of drones [10:53] crossing since 2025, but most of which [10:56] are not able to be stopped. In August, [10:59] police broke up a network importing [11:00] drones from China for exactly that [11:03] purpose. Simply put, this is now a very, [11:06] very, very, very serious threat. I would [11:09] say at this point, it might have even [11:11] reached missile level threat. And just [11:13] like the Iron Dome, the missile defense [11:15] tech that saves thousands in Israel [11:16] every year was critical. The new Iron [11:19] Dome for drones is essential. But it is [11:21] not yet there. It hasn't been fully [11:23] built. And this threat is escalating [11:25] very quickly. But thank God it is not [11:28] all bad news because Israel is one of [11:30] the most advanced tech and research hubs [11:32] in the world and know how to use this [11:34] weapon better than anyone. Cuz don't [11:36] think that they're only being attacked [11:38] by them and that they aren't still using [11:40] them themselves. After October 7th, [11:43] flight hours for Israel's big [11:44] surveillance and strike drones jumped [11:45] five-fold, and they watched nearly every [11:47] corner of Gaza from above, spotting [11:49] targets and passing them to pilots and [11:51] soldiers in real time. On the ground, [11:53] the army sent small drones into [11:55] apartments, rooms, and tunnels so [11:56] soldiers didn't have to walk in first. [11:58] That's how the world got its last look [12:01] at Kamas's leader. Cornered in a ruined [12:03] building, troops sent a drone inside [12:05] instead of risking a booby trap. And it [12:07] filmed him wounded, throwing a stick at [12:09] it moments before he was killed. Then in [12:12] June 2025, Israel took the same idea all [12:14] the way to Iran. Its intelligence agency [12:17] spent months smuggling drones pots into [12:19] Iran in suitcases, trucks, and shipping [12:21] containers. built a secret drone base [12:24] inside Iran. And when the war began, [12:27] those drones rose up from inside Iran, [12:29] destroyed missile launchers aimed at [12:31] Israel, and played an essential role in [12:33] the eliminating of Iranian leadership, [12:36] clearing the way for the planes to take [12:37] the targets. Fun fact, by the way, a few [12:40] days into the war, according to a new [12:42] insider account of the fighting, [12:44] America's top general in the Middle East [12:46] called Israel's chief of staff and asked [12:47] how many drones Israel had lost. The [12:49] answer at that point was one word, none. [12:52] The American general was stunned. With [12:54] around 80% of Iran's anti-aircraft [12:56] missiles in the key areas destroyed, [12:59] Israeli aircrafts were soon frying [13:00] freely over Iran's most protected [13:02] nuclear sites. And that open sky helped [13:05] convince the US to join the war and send [13:07] its bombers in. The drones were working, [13:10] and this is all super cool, but it still [13:12] doesn't solve the problem of what we're [13:14] actually going to do to stop these [13:16] drones. Because first you have to find [13:18] them. And radar built for planes and [13:20] missiles barely sees a small plastic [13:22] drone flying low and slow. Ukraine's [13:25] answer started with two engineers in a [13:27] garage who put a microphone and a phone [13:29] on a pole to listen to the buzz of [13:30] incoming drones. You know the Today [13:33] there are around 14,000 of those [13:35] listening posts across Ukraine. Each [13:37] costing somewhere between $400 and [13:38] $1,000. And in one attack they helped [13:40] Ukraine stop 80 out of 84 drones. [13:43] Defenders also can use heat cameras and [13:46] receivers that pick up the signal [13:47] between the drone and its pilot, but [13:49] fiber optics drones beat most of it. And [13:52] because with no radio signal and almost [13:54] no heat, they're nearly invisible until [13:55] they arrive. This is not a perfect [13:58] solution. But let's say you do manage to [14:01] figure out where the drone is, then you [14:03] have to bring it down. Jamming can cut [14:06] sometimes a pilot's connection, but if [14:08] the drone has a cable, it almost fails. [14:10] But let's say you do manage to find the [14:13] drone. How do you bring it down? [14:15] Missiles work, but they cost a fortune. [14:18] Guns are cheap, but you need the drone [14:20] to be close, which means they probably [14:22] are on to you before you're on to them. [14:24] You might have your own drones that can [14:26] hunt enemy drones, and nets might make [14:28] it explode before it reaches everyone. [14:30] All of these are kind of low tech [14:32] solutions that don't solve the problem. [14:34] Ukraine, by the way, has strung nets [14:36] over whole city streets in hopes of [14:39] physically stopping them. And this is [14:42] where Israel is leading once again. [14:44] Israel becomes the first country to use [14:46] lasers in combat against drones, [14:48] bringing down dozens of drones for less [14:50] than $5 a shot. Last December, it handed [14:53] the army the world's first high power [14:55] laser defense ready for real operations. [14:58] It does struggle in bad weather, but for [15:00] the first time, shooting down a drone [15:02] can cost less than the drone itself. And [15:04] against the fiber optic drones, troops [15:06] in Lebanon have received about 150,000 [15:09] square meters of netting, like literal [15:12] physical netting. Intelligence units [15:14] hunt the operators. Two billion shackles [15:16] have been set aside for new solutions, [15:17] and the cabinet approved new systems [15:19] that shoot drones down before they hit [15:21] armored vehicles and small radars that [15:23] warn soldiers on foot. The world is [15:25] buying what Israel learns because Israel [15:27] is in the field. Israeli systems for [15:30] stopping drones are widely used across [15:32] the Gulf. Greece protects key sites with [15:35] Israeli technology and Israel's defense [15:37] exports now have hit a record of almost [15:39] $20 billion because of this. The [15:42] importance of building this tech can't [15:44] be understated because the danger [15:46] doesn't stay just on the battlefield. [15:48] Security officials see terror groups [15:50] becoming both more willing and more able [15:52] to launch explosive drones from inside [15:54] cities and countries they want to [15:56] attack. And a drone from a rooftop can [15:58] reach a stadium, a power station or a [16:00] crowd within minutes who probably would [16:02] just assume it's a camera. This is a [16:05] universal problem now. And whilst tech [16:07] is the first step and we haven't reached [16:09] the final solutions, but it's being [16:11] built every day, the next frontier is [16:13] also the law. But for the law to change, [16:15] we need to understand why the law is [16:17] crucial. You see, at this point in time, [16:19] anyone can buy a drone without anyone [16:22] knowing who they are. Is it crazy to say [16:24] that at this point with this level of [16:26] threat that every drone should be [16:28] registered to a real owner? I mean, [16:30] heavy and long range drones would be [16:32] licensed like guns. Flights over cities [16:34] and borders would be banned without a [16:37] permit. And the police and army should [16:39] get clear power to bring drones down if [16:41] they think it's even the smallest [16:42] threat. The government, by the way, [16:44] seems to be heading there. In July, the [16:46] Security Cabinet discussed a six-month [16:48] nationwide ban on private drone flights. [16:51] And in August, the defense minister said [16:53] a national plan is being prepared. Most [16:57] of us imagine drones as cameras or [16:59] delivery items. But unfortunately, they [17:01] are no longer that. And whilst I am not [17:03] a big believer in regulation, in a day [17:05] and age where terror is on the rise, [17:07] this threat needs to be treated as such. [17:11] Israel once again is setting the path [17:12] for the world to follow. With elections [17:14] coming in Israel and the world, people [17:15] need to understand this threat of drones [17:17] for what it is and need to be pushing [17:19] for changes. Israel and the military [17:22] have understood what drones can do since [17:23] the early 1970s. But now friends and [17:26] enemies alike are catching up. Warfare [17:28] has changed and the biggest air force no [17:30] longer automatically just owns the sky. [17:32] Those at war like Israel and Ukraine are [17:34] learning this faster and harder than [17:36] anyone and building the answers the [17:38] world is going to need. This is in no [17:40] way over, but it is time to focus on it [17:42] now and to understand the threats that [17:44] the world is up against before it's too [17:46] late. I'm Er and I will see you next
