Drones, dominance, and defense: Alon Unger breaks it down | The Defense and Tech Podcast
The Defense and Tech PodcastShow Notes
Israel has flown drones for 50 years, but the battlefield is changing fast. On this episode of The Jerusalem Post’s Defense and Tech Podcast, host Anna Ahronheim sits down with Alon Unger, founder and chairman of UVID, one of the world’s leading UAV conferences, to break down the future of unmanned warfare and the race for drone dominance. Unger explains why engineers still underestimate the human role in UAV operations, how global rivals are learning from Israeli innovation in real time, and why the biggest bottlenecks in drone adoption are no longer technological but social and economic. He also maps the trends reshaping the field, from spectrum warfare and 3D-printed aircraft to new energy breakthroughs and the push for autonomy. The conversation digs into Israel’s urgent need for education pipelines, national-level investment, and a unified strategy to stay ahead as the US, China, NATO states, Russia, and regional powers pour billions into unmanned systems. Unger also previews the massive 2025 UVID conference in Tel Aviv, where the global UAV community will gather to discuss the next decade of unmanned aviation.
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