Navy collects remains of aircraft floating in sea.
By YAAKOV KATZuav hizbullah 298 IDF(photo credit: IDF)
F-16 fighter jets shot down a Hizbullah Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Monday night 10 kilometers off the coast of Acre.
A senior officer said that the IAF did not spot the UAV at takeoff but did discover it flying over Lebanon. The decision to shoot it down however came after the UAV had reached a 10-km point off the coast of Acre.
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F-16 jets were scrambled to the air and shot down the aircraft. Navy ships collected the remains of the aircraft found floating in the Mediterranean.
The officer said that it was possible that the UAV was sent over to conduct surveillance for the Hizbullah which has flown two UAVs over northern Israel twice in the past two years.
"It could be that the UAV was packed with explosives," the officer said. "It is also possible that the UAV was launched to send a message of Hizbullah's capabilities."
The officer said that Hizbullah had more UAVs which he estimated were controlled by Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The UAV, he said, flew at a low altitude and at approximately 150 kph. The Air Force believes that the drone was the same model used by the Hizbullah two years ago and was a Mirsad 1, a small remote- controlled drone with one engine and a small camera. Made by Iran, it weighs about 80 kilos and with a wingspan of 3 meters it could carry a payload of about 40 kilos.
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