On the morning of October 7, Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, launched the ‘Aqsa Flood’ operation and jumped on their paramotors and crossed into Israeli territory without being caught by air systems. Hundreds of people having fun with music at the desert festival were one of the first targets of Hamas forces who arrived on paramotors. In addition to having the same RCS (Radar Detectable Measurement) as the F-16s, the paramotors used were able to escape Israel’s radars thanks to their flight speed and altitude. The features of paramotors that render air defense systems ineffective have been revealed.
RCS VALUES ARE THE SAME AS F-16
It has been noted that there are multiple factors behind paramotors’ ability to enter Israel’s territory without being detected by its radar. According to the analysis in Al Jazeera; The first of these factors is the cross-sectional areas and RCS values of the radars. It was stated that aircraft with low cross-sectional area and RCS are among those that are difficult to detect on radar. Paramotors, which have dimensions equivalent to F-16 aircraft with an RCS of approximately 5 square meters, were one of the features that made paramotors stand out in the attack of the Al-Qassam Brigades.
THEY ARE VERY SLOW COMPARED TO MISSILES
On the other hand, it is also stated that paramotors ‘confuse’ radars. The speed of the object becomes important for radars to detect flying objects. It was reported that paramotors move at a much lower speed than missiles, so they can move without being detected by radars.
THEY ESCAPE THE RADAR BY FLYING LOW
The fact that paramotors can fly at low altitude and the rugged terrain makes them among the flying objects that are difficult to detect by radars.