The operational need for a mini-UAVs was identified in the wake of the Second Intifada, when in March 2002, the IDF decided to purchase Aeronautics Defense Systems services for intelligence missions.

In March 2009 Israel and Russia signed a contract to supply IAI Bird-Eye 400 reconnaissance drones, in an attempt to improve its unmanned aircraft fleet, after a poor performance in the Russo-Georgian War.

[2] In December 2009 media reports suggested that Russia is negotiating a second purchase of Israeli drones, roughly twice the size of an initial $50 million sale agreed in March.

[5] In June 2016 Israel Aerospace Industries announced that it has begun serial production of hundreds of Bird Eye 650D Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (STUAS).

[7] In September 2020 IAI announced that it signed an agreement to acquire 50% of BlueBird Aero Systems, an Israeli developer and integrator of small tactical UAVs.