In light of the July 6th drone strike on an American military base in Iraq, Seth Frantzman provided a glimpse of how drone warfare will define future competition between the US, China, Israel, Iran, Turkey and other countries. Drones are everywhere today: Elon Musk has predicted the F-35 will become obsolete against a “drone fighter plane” and Iranian drone technology is being used increasingly by militias in Iraq, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. Israel has developed new air defenses to shoot down drones, such as Iron Dome interceptors and even lasers. Meanwhile, Iran continues to roll out new kamikaze drones and export them around the region. Having interviewed the top defense companies, generals and operators, Frantzman discussed the artificial intelligence defining modern surveillance to the air defense technology of systems like Iron Dome that can shoot down drone threats.

About the speaker: Seth J. Frantzman (Ph.D.)is the executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis and the Middle East affairs correspondent at The Jerusalem Post. He is the author of “After ISIS: America, Israel and the Struggle for the Middle East” (Gefen, 2019).

He received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has lived in Israel since 2004, where he has covered the Disengagement from Gaza, three Gaza wars, the war against ISIS, Iran tensions, and current regional threats and developments. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, Bloomberg, The Hill, Atlantic Council, Defense News, The Spectator, The National Interest, many of which he is a regular contributor to. He has also appeared on CNN, BBC and media from Greece to Iraq. He is the founder of the Israel Gulf Report which focuses on developments in the wake of the Abraham Accords and peace between Israel and the Gulf states.

A former lecturer at Palestinian Al-Quds University, where he focused on US foreign policy, Frantzman has reported from and conducted research in Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the UAE. Frantzman was born in Maine and received his B.A from the University of Arizona.