IAI HYPNOSIS

History

IAI HYPNOSIS is a ground-based electronic-warfare system developed by Israel Aerospace Industries to protect fixed, high-value sites from aerial threats that depend on Global Navigation Satellite System signals. It uses electronic disruption instead of physically intercepting each target.

The system is intended to counter coordinated attacks by drones and other GNSS-guided platforms. Its distributed architecture allows several mobile stations to engage threats approaching from different directions.

HYPNOSIS adds a soft-kill layer to conventional air-defense networks. IAI presents it as a complement to kinetic interceptors rather than a replacement for missile and gun systems.

A product datasheet bearing a November 2025 date code indicates that HYPNOSIS had been defined as a named system before its public unveiling. Israel Aerospace Industries formally introduced the system in July 2026. Contemporary reports by Defense News and Inside GNSS described it as a high-power navigation-warfare system for defending strategic sites against large numbers of aerial threats.

The system was developed in response to the increasing use of low-cost drones in coordinated and saturation attacks. Such attacks can exhaust or overwhelm conventional defenses because every target may require a separate kinetic interceptor. HYPNOSIS instead attempts to prevent multiple satellite-guided threats from reaching the defended site by disrupting the navigation information they use.

Design

Distributed architecture

HYPNOSIS consists of multiple mobile jamming and spoofing stations deployed around a protected area. The stations operate as a coordinated network under a unified command-and-control center. Their positions allow the system to address threats arriving simultaneously from several directions.

The modular arrangement is intended to support different protected-area layouts and coverage requirements. The stations can form part of a wider air-defense architecture and coordinate their response through the central command system.

Navigation warfare

The system attacks the satellite-navigation link used by an incoming aerial platform. Jamming introduces radio-frequency interference that prevents a receiver from obtaining usable signals from navigation satellites. Spoofing transmits counterfeit navigation signals that can cause the receiver to calculate an incorrect position, velocity, or time.

IAI states that HYPNOSIS can disrupt GNSS services across multiple frequency bands, satellite constellations, and directions. The company also describes the underlying navigation-warfare technology as combat proven, but publicly available material does not identify the operation, test conditions, or threats associated with that claim.

The effectiveness of this method depends on the target continuing to rely on satellite navigation. Publicly available information does not establish its effectiveness against platforms able to complete their mission using independent inertial, visual, terrain-referenced, or other navigation methods.

Command and control

The central command-and-control unit coordinates the distributed stations in real time. Reported functions include threat detection, analysis, station coordination, and response management. The architecture is designed for automatic and remotely controlled operation, including autonomous responses without an operator manually directing each station.

HYPNOSIS can be integrated with hard-kill air-defense systems. This allows electronic disruption to serve as an initial defensive layer while kinetic systems remain available for threats that are not diverted or disabled.

Protected assets

The system is intended primarily for fixed strategic assets. Examples identified in reporting include energy infrastructure, nationally important sites, and air-defense installations. Its soft-kill method avoids consuming an interceptor for every engaged drone and has no conventional ammunition magazine that must be reloaded between engagements.

Program status

IAI publicly unveiled HYPNOSIS in 2026. Reports describe trials in which the system autonomously countered several threats converging on one target from different directions. However, IAI has not publicly disclosed the test configuration, engagement results, effective range, transmitter power, station quantity, procurement price, or production status.

No customer, operator, contract, or service-entry date had been publicly identified in the supplied material. HYPNOSIS should therefore be regarded as an unveiled counter-drone system whose detailed operational status remains undisclosed.

Specifications (IAI HYPNOSIS)

General characteristics

• Type: Ground-based counter-drone navigation-warfare system
• Manufacturer: Israel Aerospace Industries
• Engagement method: Electronic soft kill
• Configuration: Network of mobile stations around a protected site
• Control: Unified central command-and-control system
• Operation: Automatic, remotely controlled, and designed for autonomous response
• Primary targets: Drones and other aerial threats dependent on satellite navigation
• Primary mission: Defense of fixed strategic sites and infrastructure

Electronic-warfare capabilities

• Techniques: GNSS jamming and spoofing
• Signal coverage: Multiple frequency bands and satellite constellations
• Engagement geometry: Simultaneous response to threats approaching from multiple directions
• Integration: Designed to operate with kinetic air-defense systems
• Architecture: Modular and scalable distributed station network