Loitering munition in the context of Loiter (aeronautics)

The Iran–Israel war (13 June – 24 June 2025), also known as the Twelve-Day War, was an armed conflict in the Middle East. The war began when Israel bombed military and nuclear facilities in Iran in a surprise attack, assassinating prominent military leaders, nuclear scientists, and politicians, killing civilians, and damaging or destroying air defenses. Iran retaliated with over 550 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 suicide drones, hitting civilian population centers, one hospital and at least twelve military, energy, and government sites. The United States intercepted Iranian attacks, and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on 22 June. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a US base in Qatar. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire under US pressure.

The war followed a decades-long proxy war. Iran has called for Israel's destruction, and armed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Following the October 7 attacks in 2023, both entered open conflict with Israel. In April 2024, Israel bombed Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing senior Iranian military officials. Direct conflict continued in April and October. Iran's nuclear program has caused international concern for over a decade. Israel considers it an existential threat. In 2015, under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), six countries lifted sanctions on Iran, which froze its nuclear program. In 2018, US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the plan. Iran began stockpiling enriched uranium and largely suspended International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring. The day before Israel attacked, the IAEA declared Iran non-compliant with its nuclear obligations in a resolution put forward by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that carries aircraft ordnance such as air-to-surface missiles, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and/or aerial bombs on hardpoints or within weapons bay, allowing it to perform tactical attacks known as drone strikes. UCAVs are used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, attacking high-value targets and prolonged loitering before needing to return to base, unlike kamikaze drones, which are single-use drones made for physically ramming into a target and exploding on impact; or surveillance drones, which are unarmed drones used only for aerial reconnaissance and gathering intelligence.

Aircraft of this type have no onboard human pilot, but are usually under real-time remote control by human operators, with varying levels of automation. As the operator runs the vehicle from a remote terminal via radio control, equipment necessary to support an on-board human pilot is not needed, resulting in a lower weight and a smaller size than a manned aircraft for the same payload. Many countries have operational domestic UCAVs, and many more have imported fighter drones or are in the process of developing them.

The Wankel engine (/ˈvʌŋkəl/, VAHN-kəl) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. The concept was proven by German engineer Felix Wankel, followed by a commercially feasible engine designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. The Wankel engine's rotor is similar in shape to a Reuleaux triangle, with the sides having less curvature. The rotor spins inside a figure-eight-like epitrochoidal housing around a fixed gear. The midpoint of the rotor moves in a circle around the output shaft, rotating the shaft via a cam.

In its basic gasoline-fuelled form, the Wankel engine has lower thermal efficiency and higher exhaust emissions relative to the four-stroke reciprocating engine. This thermal inefficiency has restricted the Wankel engine to limited use since its introduction in the 1960s. However, many disadvantages have mainly been overcome over the succeeding decades following the development and production of road-going vehicles. The advantages of compact design, smoothness, lower weight, and fewer parts over reciprocating internal combustion engines make Wankel engines suited for applications such as chainsaws, auxiliary power units (APUs), loitering munitions, aircraft, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, motorcycles, racing cars, and automotive range extenders.

On 13 April 2024, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, in collaboration with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the Ansar Allah (Houthis), launched attacks against Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with loitering munitions, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. The attack was codenamed by Iran as Operation True Promise (Persian: وعده صادق, romanized: va'de-ye sādeq). Iran said it was retaliation for the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on 1 April, which killed two Iranian generals. The strike was seen as a spillover of the Gaza war and marked Iran's first direct attack on Israel since the start of their proxy conflict.

Several countries in the Middle East closed their airspace a few hours before Iran launched a standoff attack against Israel around midnight on 13 April. Iran's attack sent around 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles toward Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Israel Defense Forces used Arrow 3 and David's Sling systems to shoot down many of the incoming weapons. American, British, French, and Jordanian air forces also shot some down. France, which intervened at Jordan's request, deployed warships to provide radar coverage. Jordan said it had intercepted objects flying into its airspace to protect its citizens.