Establishment and Evolution of the Sky Rider Unit

At the close of 2002, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made a strategic decision to explore the operational advantages of deploying mini drones independently by ground forces.

 

This initiative gained momentum during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, where an experiment with the 'Zik' system laid the groundwork for the inception of the "Sky Rider" unit. Post-war analysis underscored the imperative of integrating land forces with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

 

In the summer of 2010, under the leadership of Uri Gonen, the formal process of establishing the Sky Rider unit commenced.

On October 10, 2010, the unit attained independent status after undergoing several trials to incorporate equipment from the Intelligence Corps and the Combat Collection Corps. Ultimately, it was decided that the unit would fall under the jurisdiction of an artillery corps.