From drones and missiles to armored vehicles, many Israeli-made weapon systems have effectively helped the NATO and Afghan forces to fight Taliban.
As Western military forces withdraw from Afghanistan, many Israeli weapons systems will no longer be involved in the hunt for Taliban and other terrorists.
Although the Israeli forces has never been in the war-torn Central Asian country, many coalition forces have used Tel Aviv’s systems over the past 20 years to fight the holy terrorist group. extreme war.
Numerous reports show that, while Israeli defense companies have remained very quiet about their products in Afghanistan, in fact countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia have used them on battlefield for many years.
Many countries have deployed remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) for intelligence gathering and also Israeli-made SPIKE missiles in battles. Their soldiers also used Israeli-made mine-resistant armored personnel carriers (MRAPs) to travel in areas of high fire intensity. One of the main Israeli weapon systems used by foreign militaries in Afghanistan is unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Reports indicate that Israel is considered a top exporter of drones and has sold these systems to many countries such as Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Singapore and Korea.
The German Air Force began to bring the Heron TP remote-controlled UAV manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) into the Afghan battlefield since 2010. These UAVs have participated in thousands of missions with thousands of hours of cumulative flight.
The Heron TP is IAI’s most advanced RPA series with up to 40 hours of operation, a maximum take-off weight of 11,685 pounds (5.3 tons) and a follow-on network load of 2,204 pounds (about 1 ton). It can be used for reconnaissance, combat and support roles, and can carry air-to-ground missiles to destroy hostile targets. German pilots were trained in Israel on how to operate and learned about its reconnaissance capabilities.
The Canadian and Australian militaries also used the IAI’s RPA Heron 1 in Afghanistan. The aircraft is equipped with a satellite data link system and an infrared optical sensor.
Heron 1 not only provides reconnaissance capabilities for ground forces in combat situations, transport support, patrol, track movement, perform long-term surveillance, but also can track explosives from the air.
In addition, the coalition forces also use Israeli drones. Since 2005, the Australian Army in Afghanistan has been using the Skylark 1 UAV manufactured by Elbit Systems.
Skylark has a length of 7.5 meters, used for close-in tactical reconnaissance and counter-terrorism missions. It can be launched by one or two soldiers, and is operated on the roofs of buildings or behind armored personnel carriers, providing live video to the operator while in the air. With a range of 10-15 km, this mini-UAV features an exceptionally quiet electric motor and superior visibility that help soldiers gain out-of-sight intelligence, enhancing their performance in situations different tasks. Australia has also used Skylark in missions in Iraq.
In addition to the RPA, the Spike NLOS missile from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has also been used by both the UK and Canada in Afghanistan. With its high accuracy, this missile is very useful in battles against the Taliban. Although the British tried to conceal their use, they publicly admitted to using the rocket, known as the Exactor, in 2014.
Spike NLOS has a range of 25 km, can be used with a number of warheads such as thermobaric, fragmentation, PBF (armor-piercing and fragmentation), or PBF/F, which are very suitable for urban warfare and high aptitude.
This missile is placed on various platforms, allowing it to destroy close-range targets, tanks, armor vehicles or hidden long-range targets with high accuracy while also helping to assess damage and gather intelligence.
According to some reports, Israel is not only present in Afghanistan through weapons systems. Although Israel does not comment on these foreign reports, Iranian media reported in 2019 that Israeli soldiers were sent to Afghanistan to gather intelligence on Iranian military movements.
According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, these Israeli soldiers were operating outside a US Air Force base in Shindand, in the Herat province, western Afghanistan, about 75km from the Iranian border, and gathered intelligence on the incident. Iranian movements around the Persian Gulf region.
Russia’s Sputnik news agency at the time also reported that Israel was operating “under the flag of the United States and the United Arab Emirates”. Citing an expert on Israel, the news agency said that the Israeli military is operating within the framework of US forces stationed here, and this operation is approved by the Afghan government.
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