210 Squadron (Israel Air Force)

Reporting identifies 210 Squadron as the Israel Air Force’s “White Eagle” Eitan Squadron.[2] As of 2023, the unit was based at Tel Nof Air Force Base near Rehovot, one of Israel’s three largest air bases.[3] Open reports identified its commanders only by rank and initial—Lt.-Col. S. in 2017 and Lt.-Col. T. in 2023. The 2023 profile explicitly stated that T.’s full name remained classified.[5][3]

The squadron operates within an IAF UAV force that also includes Squadrons 200, 161 and 166. Squadron 144 became the fifth such squadron when it reopened in an unmanned role.[4] A 2022 report said that roughly a quarter of all IAF squadrons were then operating unmanned aircraft, reflecting the growing institutional weight of UAV operations within the service.[4]

The Eitan aircraft was introduced to Squadron 210 in February 2010.[1] A February 2010 report, which referred to a new Eitan squadron without identifying it as Squadron 210, forecast that the squadron would be officially inaugurated within a year if preparations went well. It also said the Air Force planned to begin operational use of the aircraft before the squadron’s formal inauguration.[6] The available sources establish when the aircraft joined Squadron 210 but do not confirm the unit’s formal establishment date.

A January 2012 report identified Squadron 210 as based at Palmachim. That month, a Heron TP crashed after taking off from the squadron for a systems test. The preliminary investigation suspected human error, with ground controllers apparently exceeding the test-flight parameters. The Air Force had been operating the Heron TP for approximately two years at that point.[7]

The primary platform associated with 210 Squadron is the Heron TP, designated Eitan by the IAF and built by Israel Aerospace Industries.[1] When it was introduced to the squadron in February 2010, Globes described it as the IAF’s largest and most sophisticated UAV.[1] It has a 1,200-horsepower turboprop engine, a wingspan of approximately 26 meters—comparable to that of a Boeing 737—and a maximum altitude exceeding 41,000 feet.[1][1]

The Eitan has a maximum takeoff weight of five tons and can carry payloads of up to 1,000 kilograms.[1] Its open-architecture design allows different missions and payloads to be integrated or exchanged without significant changes to the base system.[1] Globes reported an endurance of about 40 hours, while a 2017 report said the aircraft could fly up to 7,500 kilometers while transmitting information.[7][5] An INSS strategic survey published in 2010 likewise described the IAF’s recently deployed Shoval and Eitan UAVs as high-altitude aircraft intended for missions exceeding 40 hours, including reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.[8]

The squadron’s commander described its campaign-spanning intelligence role by saying, “We always say we start the war two weeks before and finish two weeks later.” He explained that collection begins before fighting and continues afterward to assess damage inflicted on the enemy.[5] The Eitan provides reconnaissance to ground forces and helps create movement profiles of adversary activity. The commander also said, “You can’t always send fighter jets to places the Eitan can go.”[5]

During the 2023 Gaza war, the squadron shifted from pre-planned mission schedules to around-the-clock operations, locating targets and directing other aircraft and fire from land and sea toward them.[2] A new intelligence-gathering pod containing classified detection and collection systems was introduced on the Eitan during the war. It underwent safety checks, integration assessment and test flights before being declared operational.[2] The squadron commander said, “If we don’t fly, there will be almost no active targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization—the squadron is the central target producer.”[2] He also said intelligence gathered by the unit enabled attacks on hundreds of infrastructure targets ahead of the ground maneuver.[2]

A 2023 profile reported that Unit 210 used around four main types of drones for a combination of intelligence collection and attack activity.[3] The same report described a wider IAF inventory ranging from commercial DJI and Skylark reconnaissance drones to Zik, Shoval and Eitan systems, but it did not establish that every listed type was assigned to Unit 210.[3]

210 Squadron’s development took place within a broader expansion of IAF unmanned aviation. During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israeli UAVs logged approximately 16,000 flight hours, with an estimated average of about 21 UAVs airborne at any given time. They performed intelligence gathering, tracking, launcher-hunting and support for ground forces, although the source does not connect those operations to Squadron 210.[9]

The IAF subsequently added Heron UAVs in 2007, the Heron TP in 2010 and the Hermes 900 in 2014, gaining combat experience with these platforms chiefly during rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip.[9] The Eitan aircraft was reported to have seen action during Operation Cast Lead in 2008, before its formal absorption into the IAF, and extensive use during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.[5] These accounts concern the aircraft type and do not establish that 210 Squadron participated as a unit in either operation.

Several accounts of 210 Squadron’s activities rely on attributed reporting rather than official disclosure. In 2017, the IAF declined to comment on reports that Eitans used by the squadron could be armed; their possible strike capability was therefore presented as reported rather than officially confirmed.[5] Separately, a 2023 N12 report attributed to foreign publications the claim that Squadron 210 aircraft had participated in attacks on weapons convoys near the Syria–Iraq border. N12 did not present this as an officially confirmed account.[10] Claims about targets located and attacks enabled during the 2023 Gaza war derive primarily from statements attributed to the squadron commander.[2]