As it secured a ceasefire with a prostrate Iran, the Israeli military revealed yet another war-changing innovation that saved its civilians from swarms of Iranian drones. Israel has bolstered its multi-layered missile defenses with so-called “spectrum warfare,” leveraging technology based in the electromagnetic spectrum to defend against incoming drones. “In recent days, we have thwarted dozens of such infiltration attempts using advanced electronic warfare systems,” said Lieutenant Colonel “B,” commander of Battalion 5114 at the Spectrum Warfare Center.

“Personnel of the Spectrum Warfare Battalion of the ICT Division assist in the sky defense mission against hostile aircraft that penetrate and are launched towards the State of Israel,” B explained.

The primary threat Israel faces is aerial attack by the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies, especially the Houthis, Hamas, and (until Israel destroyed its missile arsenal) Hezbollah. For years, these enemies have intermittently attacked Israel with rockets (from close by), missiles (from farther away), and now also drones.

To defend against these threats, Israel has developed a multi-layered missile defense system, which intercepts and destroys incoming projectiles in mid-air. Although largely effective, these missile defenses were also expensive (as hard as it is to build a missile that can fly precisely into a large, stationary target over long distances, it is even more difficult to build a counter-missile that flies with enough precision to hit a small target moving at the speed of a missile — at any distance).

The economic calculus of missile defense grew worse for Israel after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For the first time, the Russo-Ukrainian war saw the large-scale military deployment of attack drones — essentially remote-controlled bombs. These drones could be mass-produced, largely with commercially available technology, providing a low-cost, low-casualty weapon that profoundly affected that war of attrition.

Earlier this month, Ukraine deployed such drones to devastating effect by destroying one-third of Russia’s long-range bomber force in a single attack.

Iran played a leading role in mass-producing these battle drones and selling them to Russia. So, naturally, when the Iranian regime launched its own war with Israel (first through its proxies in 2023, then through direct attacks), its newly-built drone brigades featured heavily in that combat, too. These drones were much cheaper than the anti-missile munitions Israel was using to shoot them down, and the Israeli military needed a better solution.

“Conceptually, the IDF has recognized that technological advances impact everything. It happens even in the civilian sector where a tractor also works on GPS using a computerized device,” Spectrum Warfare Battalion’s Captain “Y” told the Jerusalem Post in 2023. And, because high stakes justify intensive research, wars have often provided the occasion for technological advances — the Manhattan Project, for instance.

The Spectrum Warfare Battalion stepped in to fill the gap. Israeli officials are tight-lipped about how exactly its super-secret science force deflected Iranian drones, but “Y” offered a general description of their purpose: “The purpose of the unit is to enable total control over the electromagnetic spectrum, which allows much freer action by the IDF’s various forces in the field.”

The Spectrum Warfare Battalion is developing both offensive and defensive weapons, but its offensive developments are faster, “Y” added. The Post suggested “new kinds of direct jamming or confounding enemies’ communications” as likely projects.

Nearly two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israel’s Spectrum Warfare Battalion came to play an integral part of the nation’s anti-drone defense strategy.

“The drones come from Iranian territory … and we help to thwart them all the time,” said “B.” “These thwarts constitute an additional and significant layer of defense that helps protect Israel’s skies. Every drone that we manage to thwart helps to protect our citizens, residents, and strategic assets.”

Israel’s new electromagnetic warfare is not the only surprising innovation the country has achieved during its recent war of survival. First there was its brilliant pager operation. Then there was the covert infiltration of Iran that paved the way for “Operation Rising Lion.” At this point, one must almost predict that Israel’s next move will likely involve some war-changing innovation that no one else has thought of before. In war, as in everything else, necessity is the mother of invention.

The most surprising part of Israel’s revelations about its Spectrum Warfare Battalion is the fact that it revealed anything at all. “So secret is the unit that even in those rare cases where the IDF has admitted its existence and discussed its activities, it has usually refrained from giving the kind of specifics in terms of adversaries and dates of use that it gave on Monday,” wrote The Jerusalem Post.

Thus, the revelation and its timing communicate a deliberate message, to friends and foes alike: don’t underestimate Israel. Before the next genocidal regime throws itself into a suicidal war against the tiny Israeli state, it should stop and consider: Israel might just have another trick up its sleeve.