IAF Adopts Technology Designed to Prevent Bird Strikes

The Israel Air Force recently installed a radar station on Israel’s northern border; the bird radar is designed to prevent collisions between aircrafts and flocks of birds. Motivated by safety concerns, the IAF hopes the bird radar will prevent future bird strikes. The bird radar—Israel’s third station—will also track bird migration, sending reports to northern border officers.

White storks fly through northern Israel. Source: birdingisrael.com.

In the past 25 years, approximately ten IAF fighter jets collided with birds, resulting in the death of three pilots.

Israel’s three radar stations also allow researchers to collect data on bird migration. Twice a year, somewhere between 500 million to one billion birds fly through the Middle East, passing through Israel, on their way from Eurasia to Africa and vice versa.