Unmanned drone crashes in Negev
Unmanned aerial vehicle crashes in Negev near populated community, causes scare among residents who hope crash will not hurt military efforts to stop Qassam launches on them
IDF sources estimate that the drone crashed due to a technical failure and was not shot down by Palestinian fire. "It was very unpleasant to see a drone worth hundreds of thousands of dollars just laying there on the ground," said an IDF official.
"But when you operate many aircraft in the skies, we expect mishaps of this kind as well. From what we checked there is no residual damage other than the crash itself, but we need to check it further to be sure," he added.
This is not the first time an IDF drone crashes during military operations when during the war in Lebanon a similar drone crashed in Lebanon and was destroyed purposely by the IDF. Similar instances happened in 2005 in Gaza and the West Bank.
The use of drones has been common in recent years as it is able to provide accurate real time video pictures at very low cost and with low risk to human life.
"The use of this vehicle has long ago been taken outside the boundaries of the Air Force and into the hand of ground forces that operate it directly," said the military source.
The residents of Nativ HaAsara are used to being ready for Qassam rockets to land, said that they hoped the crash did not hurt the efforts in Gaza to stop the rocket fire at them. They added that it was fortunate that it did not crash on one of the homes as it could have caused damage and injuries.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to the report
