The United States and Israel are investigating claims a small and slow-moving aerial drone operated by Hezbollah, a Shi'a Islamist militant group based in Lebanon, avoided being shot down by two U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot PAC-2 surface-to-air missiles fired by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

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This same drone later evaded an air-to-air missile launched at it by an Israeli Air Force F-16 air superiority jet fighter made in the U.S.

Some sources claim an electronic warfare (EW) system made by China allowed the drone to evade destruction in both cases and land safely back in Hezbollah-controlled territory.

Russian media said the drone "exhibited atypical maneuverability." This reinforced claims the drone used advanced electronic systems from the U.S. based on an American ScanEagle drone that crashed in Iran in 2012.

"It's been reported that cyber warfare specialists from China are responsible for these upgrades."

The failed shoot downs occurred July 17 when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crossed into Israel from Syrian-controlled territory into the Golan Heights occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967.

The IDF said the UAV "was detected prior to entering the nation's territory and was fully tracked." It then launched two missiles at the drone, both of which missed. The drone was tracked returning into Syrian territory.

The IDF said one of the Patriots detonated in mid-air but didn't hit the drone. An intercepting F-16 fired an air-to-air missile at the drone, which also missed. 

Hezbollah later admitted the done was theirs and this UAV took part in "an operation against Israel." It did not, however, specify what type of drone this was.

Some media reports claim the drone was a Yasir, an Iranian copy of the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle, a small, long-endurance UAV built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing. ScanEagle, which was originally designed to hunt for schools of tuna, entered service with the U.S. Navy in 2005.

The Navy then sold the drone to 19 other countries and one of these drones crashed in Iran in 2012. Iran said it reverse-engineered the design to create the Yasir, which it supplied to its ally, Hezbollah.

TagsUnited States, Israel, Yasir, aerial drone, Hezbollah, Iran, U.S. Navy, Boeing Insitu ScanEagle