Mysterious Israeli drone allegedly sighted over Lebanon
The Aviationist service drew attention to a video published on the X platform. Despite the low quality of the footage, a mysterious drone is visible, which allegedly appeared over Lebanon on Monday, 28th October. It cannot be ruled out that the visible machine is the Israeli RA-01 drone, whose existence was recently revealed. A mention of it is even found in classified documents from the USA.
The Aviationist analysed the drone visible in the short, only 15-second video, published on the X platform (formerly Twitter). It notes that the device shows some similarities to the American RQ-180 drone, but differences can also be seen, primarily concerning the design of the body and the size of the machine.
The drone footage attracted considerable attention
The service also points out that in the case of the recording, certain doubts are raised regarding, among other things, the unusually low flight altitude for drones made with stealth technology, and the alleged appearance over Lebanon (additionally during the day) where Israeli air forces operate almost unchallenged, without the need to engage Low Observable (LO) type resources. According to The Aviationist, this may indicate a deliberate showing of the Israeli RA-01 drone or a misinterpretation of the environment in which it appeared. Digital interference with the recording cannot be ruled out either.
It is worth mentioning that the first official mentions of the RA-01 drones appeared only in October 2024. Information about it also appeared in classified documents from the USA, which The War Zone drew attention to some time ago. This refers to information from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). American officials did not question the authenticity of these documents, which first appeared online via a pro-Iranian channel on Telegram.
The exact specifications of the Israeli long-range RA-01 drones are still unknown. It should also be clearly emphasised that Tel Aviv has not officially confirmed that its army indeed possesses such devices. However, experts believe that Israel most likely has a small fleet of RA-01s that has recently been in operational use.
The devices are used to conduct secret intelligence and observation missions. They can also carry out attacks. Similar to the mentioned American RQ-180 drones, the Israelis used stealth technology in the RA-01, reducing the unmanned aircraft's detectability. Some experts believe that the drones may be stored at the Israeli Ramon air base in the Negev Desert, as indicated by satellite images.
