August 25, 2024: Israeli troops have been using their new, since 2019, Firefly drone frequently while fighting Hamas in Gaza. Israel is one those few nations that is constantly attacked and always has troops in action. Because of this Israeli defense firms are constantly developing new weapons and equipment for Israeli troops to use. For example, in 2019 the Firefly, a loitering munition UAV was developed. Firefly is portable enough for infantry to carry and continually reuse. There is also the option to replace one of the two batteries with an explosive warhead and turn Firefly into a guided weapon. Another major advantage of Firefly is that it operates like a helicopter, not a fixed-wing aircraft. Being able to hover is a major advantage for loitering munitions used by infantry. Firefly seems to have addressed all or most of the user criticisms of earlier lightweight loitering munition systems.

Firefly was developed by Rafael, the same firm that developed and built the Spike family of ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles). Much of the tech in Firefly was based on what is already used in Spike systems. In particular, Firefly has a guidance system that can track and attack a moving target. This can be critical for infantry using such a weapon because these targets are elusive in the first place and, without a UAV, the infantry would not have spotted dangers like snipers or moving troops at all.

Firefly is a dual rotor miniature helicopter. On top of each other, rotors make it stable in winds that would make a similar-sized fixed-wing or quad-copter UAV unusable. The 0.4 kg warhead replaces the second battery to halve the normal 30 minutes of flight time. The operator uses a small tablet device that is mostly a touch screen and a Firefly controller. Firefly can be controlled up to 500 meters in a built-up or forested area, or up to 1,500 meters in line-of-sight. Firefly returns to the operator and explosives are deactivated if the control signal is lost. The operator can press an icon on the screen to get Firefly to return immediately, abort an attack or carry out a high speed 19 meters a second attack on a target. The target can be moving, as in a sniper changing firing positions out of sight of the operator. This is accomplished using the ability of the Firefly guidance system to remember the shape of a target and follow it. The Firefly warhead is most often used against troublesome targets like snipers or hidden machine-guns. Even without the warhead, Firefly’s main purpose is to locate such lethal adversaries and enable the infantry to avoid them. Firefly can also be launched and operated from a moving vehicle.

The big advantage Firefly has over similar loitering munitions like the 40mm Pike and GLAUS, as well as American Switchblade, is reusability. Carry one Firefly and just use it as a UAV for a dozen or more times. The relative simplicity of Firefly compared to Switchblade, and to similar American designs like GLAUS and Pike based on 40mm grenade shells, makes it a better system that is also cheaper when you consider the reusability.