A recently circulated short video across various social media platforms captured what seems to be the inaugural deployment of Israel’s latest mystery drone by its troops.
As reported by defense and aviation journalist Babak Taghvaee, Israeli soldiers utilized the new Maoz (Spike Firefly) kamikaze drone during operations to search for Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank.
The Spike Firefly, a loitering munition, presents itself as a small unmanned aerial vehicle designed in a helicopter configuration, equipped with dual coaxial counter-rotating rotor blades. Remarkably lightweight at merely 3 kilograms, this drone offers versatile functionalities.
The munition features an electro-optical observation system with a thermal imaging channel and can be armed with a 350-gram fragmentation or shaped charge warhead. Its flight endurance ranges between 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the configuration of one or two battery packs.
Watch Spike Firefly miniature loitering drones of #Israel Defense Force in search for the #Palestinian terrorists in West Bank today. Each one of them has 3kg of explosives in its warheads which is enough to hunt one or two terrorists. pic.twitter.com/7AehABxrkU
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) December 18, 2023
Confirming the deployment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged the use of the “Moaz” loitering munition marking its first operational use. Israel’s military said that it employed a new drone system to locate and neutralize terror cells in the Gaza Strip.
