Prosecutors are accusing four direct action protestors, who are part of the ‘Filton 25’, of destroying 40 significant military assets, including quadcopter drones, inside Elbit’s research and development centre in Filton, Bristol. The weapons facility is owned by Israel’s biggest arms firm, Elbit Systems, which produces 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet.
The prosecution are alleging that the protestors caused £1.2million worth of damage to Elbit Systsems. The majority of the costs claimed is for the alleged damage of 40 military assets. Mira Hammad, a barrister representing Leona Kamio, referred to a damage report provided by Elbit for the sentencing, saying in open court that Justice Johnson will have seen the list of damage, which includes:
“Kestrel drone, the Magni X drone, Elbit’s THOR HELIOS and THOR LEGION X drones”. She also mentioned reference to six redacted “drone systems”, which have been separately identified as Easy Aerial Drones, and she referenced alleged damage to “Commander Heads Out Displays”.
Kestrel drones
The Filton 4 are accused of destroying a Kestrel platform inside Elbit’s Filton factory. Sentient’s Kestrel is an automated moving target indicator (MTI) and object detection software. Elbit Systems frequently integrates this software into its own drones (like the Skylark I-LEX and Hermes drones). It is used to track any moving object in real time, including Palestinians in Gaza, helping the drone target them before killing them.
The IOF itself reports that ES Skylark is used in almost every major operational activity. It is reasonable to infer that most casualties in Gaza have therefore been caused by military networks that include drones.
Magni X drones
The Magni X quadcopter drone is used to surveil and gather intelligence for military attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. It was initially produced by Flying Production, Elbit’s factory in Israel, and are used by the Israeli military frequently to target Palestinians during the genocide.
Thor drones
The Thor drone is an unmanned military drone, which are used to surveil Palestinians and drop bombs to massacre them in Gaza. The bombs they drop are called the ‘TerminaTHOR’, a play on the word ‘terminator’. The Thor drone also works as a core component of the artificial intelligence network ‘Legion X’, which connects swarms of drones to attack Palestinians together.
Since 2021, the IOF has reportedly been utilising Elbit’s ‘Legion X’ software network system for so-called ‘drone swarms.’In a drone swarm, the drones communicate and collaborate, making autonomous collective decisions about where to go and what to do. In a militarized drone swarm, instead of 10 or 100 distinct drones, the swarm forms a single, integrated weapon system guided by some form of artificial intelligence. Thor drones also use AI systems to pick out targets, and can carry and deploy weapons up to 13kg, including 6 lethal grenades.
The Lanius, which is the Italian word for ‘butcher’, is a mini quadcopter which works with the Legion X platform to pursue and kill in ‘dense urban environments’ at short range. Lanius drones can only operate in swarms with the Thor drone and Magni-X, by using the Legion X platform. The drones can enter buildings through windows or doors, to surveil and kill those inside.
Legion X is also used to co-ordinate UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) such as the Rook and PROBOT platform. The Rook UGV is capable of carrying weapons, as well as deploying loitering munitions.
Easy aerial drones
Within the report of the weapons destroyed in the Filton action, Elbit Systems list six drone systems, but redact what type of drone systems they are.
However, they have been identified as being ‘Easy Aerial’ drones from the US. Easy Aerial is headquartered in Brooklyn, but has offices in Gan HaShomron, Israel. It was founded and is still managed by former IOF soldiers. The company’s Chief Product Officer told Truthout that their products found “an immediate need after October 7.”
In a 2021 YouTube video, IOF drone operators show off their latest surveillance technology weaponized on the Gaza border–Easy Aerial UAVs. Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, also has a contract with Easy Aerial to retrofit ground vehicles with UAVs.
What the drones do
During the genocide, Israeli drones technology are used in almost every military attack on Palestinians in Gaza. Just some of those incidents include:
- The killing of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa 15.12.23
- 6 unarmed Palestinians killed in Tulkarem, West Bank 27.12.23
- The killing of Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh 07.01.24
- 6 killed in a targeted strike on a PRCS ambulance 10.11.23
- The killing of 50 Palestinians when quadcopter drones opened fire on a crowd waiting for flour distribution on Al Rasheed Street 11.01.24
- The killing of 2 teenagers by a quadcopter strike on their tent in Rafah 12.02.24
- The besieging of Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, anyone who left was shot and killed by Israeli quadcopter drones 08.10.24
Responding to the alleged damaged Israeli weaponry, Andrew Feinstein, an arms trade export and director of Shadow World Investigations said:
“These quadcopter drones are key instruments of genocide, used by the Israeli forces in Gaza for surveillance, targeting and to kill. Had they not been destroyed by these brave actionists, they could have easily ended up facilitating yet more killing and devastation. To call those who disabled them terrorists is a perverse distortion of the truth. The real outrage is the continued arming and enabling of a genocidal military campaign that has devastated an entire civilian population. Those who smashed these drones to pieces were not spreading terror – they were trying to prevent it.”