Israeli media: Ukraine gets Israel-made anti-drone systems via Poland

An Israeli defence contractor is supplying anti-drone systems to Ukraine’s military by way of Poland, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael reported on September 12.

A source in the firm told Zman that the equipment was being sold to Poland to circumvent Israel’s refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine.

The company reported to the Defense Ministry that the sale was to Poland and appeared to be claiming not to be aware that Warsaw was acting as an intermediary to transfer the weapons to Kyiv, which has been using the Israeli systems to fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Defence industry sources clarified that anti-drone systems — which can intercept and disrupt unmanned aerial vehicles — are classified as “advanced defensive technology” and therefore are not approved for sale to Ukraine. However, the Israeli government has appeared uninterested in torpedoing the deal.

There was no immediate comment from the Defense Ministry.

Israel deploys anti-drone systems along its borders with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria and is considered a world leader in developing the technology, and several Israeli firms are involved — Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit, MCTECH, Spear and the Avnon Group.

Israeli systems have been deployed by Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia and have also been sold to the US and countries in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.