The phone of Michal Mor, founder and CEO of Smart Shooter, who is sitting in front of me, does not stop receiving congratulatory messages, even from abroad. The reason: on the day we met, it was announced that Israeli forces in Gaza managed to eliminate a swarm of seven attack drones using the SMASH smart fire control system, developed by the company.

And this was not the first time. SMASH proved to be particularly effective against drones in the war in the Gaza Strip, and against Hamas terrorists in face-to-face combat. The system, which has already been purchased by the IDF and other armies around the world, is now being used for the first time in wartime - and with great success. Professional military websites - including the IDF's official website – describe it as groundbreaking.

Mor previously worked as a team leader for R&D groups in the missile division of Israel’s arms manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. Then, following her husband's military reserve service in the Second Lebanon War, she came up with the idea that changed her life and sent her on a new path.
"In 2006, I was nine months pregnant, my husband who served in the Golani Infantry Brigade, got a call-up order and entered Lebanon equipped with a standard low-tech weapon.

When I looked at the rifle, at the steel, I realized that I had the ability to dramatically improve the sight," she says.
"Until the use of SMASH, the rifle was nothing more than metal. So, we incorporated into the rifle the technology used for missile interception, which I'm familiar with. The goal is to allow soldiers, certainly reservists who do not train regularly, to hit the target precisely at the first shot. During combat, a reservist does not have time to re-gain operational capabilities."

The technology ensures precise hit of moving targets, regardless of the soldier's level of training, including hit of drones - the new threat on the battlefield since the Ukraine war and now in Gaza and in the north against Hezbollah.

Through advanced artificial intelligence-based image processing, SMASH locks on the target and tracks its movement to synchronize the shot release for a swift and precise hit. The SMASH is much more than an optical scope - it's a sophisticated fire control system. The system detects, among other things, the direction and speed of the target's movement. If the barrel is not aimed exactly at the target, the trigger will not be pulled and the fighter, who follows the target through a screen, will encounter a small block.

Beyond the incredible accuracy, the system can track and hit from a longer range of 200 meters (650 feet), compared to about 50 meters (165 feet) with a rifle with a normal sight, which adds to the safety of the shooter. 

Today, in all IDF infantry units there is a rifleman equipped with the SMASH system, which costs several thousand shekels, and now in the Gaza war, it has come into use by reservists as well. The IDF has uploaded a video on its official website praising the SMASH, stating that it quadruples the forces’ chances of hitting their target, and thousands of it have already been used by the soldiers in the Gaza Strip. The proven success in wartime has increased the demand for the system worldwide.

The IDF says that it plans to increase the sight’s distribution in the near future, train more reservists to use it, improve its night operational capabilities and develop an option for soldiers to be able to identify friendly forces in order to avoid blue-on-blue incidents, which unfortunately occurs frequently in densely populated urban warfare in Gaza.

Source: Ynet (Israel)