Israel temporarily halts operation of its Shoval drones after crash

By Zain Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army temporarily grounded a fleet of its armed drones on Saturday after an aircraft was damaged during takeoff.

In a statement on Twitter, the army said a Shoval drone was damaged during takeoff earlier Saturday. No injuries were reported in the crash.

"The commander of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, ordered that the Shoval fleet be grounded until the end of the investigation of the incident," the statement said.

The army did not mention the area where the drone crashed. A source, however, told Israeli public broadcaster KAN that the incident took place in the Palmachim Airbase in central Israel.

The army has launched an investigation into the crash to determine whether it was a technical failure or a human error.

In September and November, two similar crash incidents happened for the same kind of drones, also known as IAI Heron 1.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar