IDF reportedly positioned 'Vulcan' cannon to boost Israel's defense against Hezbollah drone attacks

Israel Defense Forces deployed the M61 Vulcan cannon to boost defenses against Hezbollah drone attacks from Lebanon, the Maariv news outlet reported on Sunday.

The Vulcan cannon was locally produced by the Israeli Tamar Group and is equipped with six barrels of 20 mm each, capable of firing around 6,000 rounds per minute. In addition, the cannon is a portable weapons system that can be relocated as new threats emerge.

Earlier this year, U.S. forces used the Vulcan to defend the humanitarian aid floating pier it built off the coast of Gaza, which was ultimately replaced by an Israel pier in the port city of Ashdod.

Israel's Channel 12 News also noted that the Vulcan was previously used by American forces deployed in Iraq.

The IDF is familiar with the Vulcan cannon, as an older version was supplied by the United States during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The cannon was also used during the First Lebanon War in 1982.

Israel’s advanced and multi-layered aerial defense system has thwarted the majority of incoming hostile missiles and rockets from Iran and its regional terrorist proxies. However, it has been far more challenging for the IDF to neutralize the drone threat. Unlike rockets and missiles, drones are slower and move at a lower altitude, making them more difficult to detect and intercept. In addition, drones are often mistaken for birds flying at similar altitudes.

Earlier in October, a Hezbollah drone from Lebanon struck the private residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coastal city of Caesarea.

“The agents of Iran who tried to assassinate me and my wife today made a bitter mistake," Netanyahu warned. “This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future.”

The Iranian regime has provided Hezbollah and its other regional proxies with a large amount of low-cost, mass-produced suicide drones.

The Iranian drone threat has global implications, as the regime has supplied the Russian military with a significant number of drones now being used in the war against Ukraine.

Early on Saturday morning, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched Operation “Day of Repentance,” an unprecedented aerial strike involving more than 100 jets targeting strategic Iranian military sites, including drone and missile production facilities. This operation was Israel's response to two prior Iranian aerial attacks, the most recent taking place on Oct. 1, when Iran fired some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.

Israel's strike on Iran's military sites severely damaged the regime’s capability to mass-produce missiles, according to the IDF. While the strategic implications remain to be seen, Israeli officials hope that Iran’s diminished offensive capabilities will eventually weaken its proxies' military strength as well.