The Israeli Air Force’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) array is playing a central role in the unprecedented scale of aerial strikes during the ongoing Operation Roaring Lion, conducting continuous missions deep inside Iran to hunt ballistic missile launchers and degrade the regime’s other military capabilities.
Maj. G, an experienced UAV reservist operator with nearly two decades of operational experience, described to JNS in an exclusive interview the intricacies of the historic long-range operations.
Having participated in the opening waves of both the current campaign and the June 2025 Operation Rising Lion, he emphasized the sheer magnitude of the current offensive.
“First of all, it’s an honor to be a partner to such an opening flight,” Maj. G stated. “This is the largest opening flight the State of Israel has ever done, including more than Operation Focus in the Six-Day War.” Some 200 IAF aircraft took part in the February 28 opening strike, eliminating 40 of the top Iranian military and terror leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei at a Tehran compound.
Maj. G expressed hope that this effort will go on to create quiet for many years for the State of Israel.
He operates the Israel Aerospace Industries-made Heron 1 UAV, known in Hebrew as the Shoval, a domestically produced UAV that he described as a force multiplier.
The Heron UAV is operated by the IAF’s Squadron 200, which is known as the first UAV squadron and the oldest squadron of drones in the Israeli Air Force.
The Heron 1 is used for intelligence gathering, surveillance, support of ground forces, and precision strike missions, and is capable of remaining airborne for extended periods and providing real-time intelligence to forces on the ground, both day and night and over long distances.
Squadron 200 currently operates from the Hatzor Airbase in southern Israel.
“It’s what we can use and change it and shape it, according to our operational need,” he explained. “And this allows us to do—in all our operational activities and especially since the decision of this operation —things some people did not imagine would be possible.”
Pursuing Iran’s missile launchers
One of the primary missions for the UAV array in Iran is the relentless pursuit of the regime’s surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile launchers, with some of the missile launchers disguised as civilian trucks.
“Clearly, for us, one of the roles and the main missions is to hunt launchers of surface-to-surface missiles and surface-to-air missiles,” Maj. G confirmed. “And we certainly are succeeding in doing this mission. I think that as proof, we are seeing the low number of launches, relative to what was expected in the State of Israel.”
He attributed this success to the hard work performed in the UAV squadrons and the critical contributions of the fighter jet arrays. Maj. G likened this combined massive, synchronized effort to a well-rehearsed orchestra.
“When an orchestra practices a lot of time together, and it has a conductor, you don’t need to exactly synchronize it,” Maj. G elaborated. “I don’t need to talk with the piano player to play well on the trombone; we know how to synchronize without talking, and I think that the operational effectiveness of this integration, you see it in the field.”
He added, “We are very synchronized with all the arrays that are operating in Iran, and this is one of the things that allows us to bring our operational effectiveness to the level it is at. The officer said he hoped this would continue throughout the war to continue to gradually reduce surface-to-surface missile launches toward Israel.
Intelligence gathering
A significant portion of the UAV array’s time is dedicated to intelligence gathering to locate targets before they can be struck.
Operators also focus on matching the right munition to the target, he added. “The significant part is to find targets,” he said. “There is a variety of means to find the targets, we are one of them, and there is a variety of means to attack them, according to the operational need.”
“If we are the suitable tool, then we are the tool that attacks. If we are the tool that finds the target, and this also is suitable, then we are the tool that attacks, and if it’s necessary to bring a fighter jet that attacks, we succeed in bringing the skies of Iran to a situation of aerial superiority. This allows us to bring whichever tool is needed, according to the operational need.”
However, the operating environment in Iran presents significant challenges, particularly the regime’s tactic of embedding military assets within civilian areas.
“Certainly, this is one of the challenges that we have,” Maj. G acknowledged. He noted that over his 25 years of operating unmanned tools, IAF drone operators have had to deal with a variety of targets disguised as civilian entities in multiple arenas, from terrorists around schools to missiles in disguised civilian-like trucks.
“Our goal is to hit the targets with a minimum of damage to the surrounding environment, and with maximum operational effectiveness,” he stated.
To achieve this, highly developed operational tools have been adapted to meet specific needs.
Separately, the UAVs can be placed, when appropriate, in autonomous mode, such as during long flights, and human intervention occurs when precision is critical.
“This allows us an efficiency in activating personnel, in order to allow us to fly with more tools and with more missions,” Maj. G explained, adding that it also ensures personnel get the required rest.
“I will say that when we find an important target, it doesn’t matter how many hours you haven’t slept, the whole team is focused on performing the mission and neutralizing the threat that we find.”
Protecting Israel and the Middle East
While Maj. G has been focused on Iran for the past week of the war, he stressed that the UAV array is active across multiple theaters. Since Oct. 7, 2023, he has flown dozens of sorties over Lebanon, and his colleagues continue to operate there to protect Israel’s northern border.
“We are all protecting Israel, and in my opinion, maybe the whole Middle East from these threats, from whichever direction they arrive,” he said.
The scale and importance of the UAV array’s contribution were highlighted by the Ministry of Defense’s data regarding the June 2025 Operation Rising Lion. According to the ministry, the UAV array achieved unprecedented reach during that conflict, with continuous long-distance deployment logging thousands of flight hours and executing over 500 strikes and interdictions within Iran.
UAV operations minimized risk to combat pilots while conducting missile launcher hunts, saving numerous lives and preventing extensive damage to the State of Israel. Combined with the Swords of Iron War, UAV missions accounted for 60% of total IAF flight hours and 50% of all IDF strike operations during that period.
Beyond the tactical realities, Maj. G expressed profound gratitude for the support the military receives from Jewish communities worldwide.
“First of all, since the seventh of October and also in past wars, the embrace and the support that we receive from Jewish communities in the world very much helps the people at the edge—also the combatants —as well as all the military personnel,” he shared. “And it would have been impossible to do some of the things without receiving this support. It’s important that people at home know this. They have a part in our success.”
“I want to say to them: Thank you for this support,” Maj. G concluded.
