IAF looking for practice space
With Israel's relations with Turkey on the rocks, Israel is looking for another country in the region whose airspace it can use for IAF drills. In recent years, due to the various threats it faces, primarily from Iran, the IAF has increased its long-range training missions. Most notable was in 2008, when 100 IAF aircraft flew over Greece in an exercise that was perceived as a dress rehearsal for a strike against Iran.Why not just fly over the Persian Gulf? Heh.
Until Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last winter, the IAF frequently flew over Turkey, and it had participated in several annual exercises with the Turkish Air Force. Following the offensive against Hamas and the deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations, Ankara has refused to allow Israel to deploy its fighter jets in Turkey.
“We are looking for new places where we can fly,” a senior IAF officer said recently.
As a result, the Defense Ministry is looking to continue an agreement it signed in 2006 that allows Israeli fighter jets to deploy in Romania. The IAF has sent jets to Romania for training in 2007 and plans to deploy aircraft there again later this year.
...
It is possible that the flyover by two IAF Gulfstream reconnaissance aircraft in Hungary last month was also part of an air force exercise in Europe. The appearance of Israeli military aircraft in Hungarian airspace triggered a political controversy that culminated this week in the dismissal of the head of the air traffic department at Hungary’s Transportation Ministry.
“Our ties with Turkey will never return to be the way they once were,” a senior defense official said on Thursday. “It is unlikely that under the current government in Ankara we will be allowed to fly there again.”
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:13 PM
2 Comments:
Perhaps Abu Dhabi will charge a handsome fee to allow the IAF to practice over its airspace... I'm sure they would, unless they feared Iranian retaliation.
Heh
"Why not just fly over the Persian Gulf?"
And if they had to make a quick landing over the gulf, where?
What a tragedy, the Jewish State is so surrounded by hostile territory not only from their neighbors but those who empower them.
A worse shame the U.S gave their blood and billions for Iraq to arrive to the day Israel the only democracy in the whole of the ME can not land a plane there or even FLY OVER. Our boys who gave their lives to supposedly liberate Iraq would be mortified. Of course that part of the equation of the Iraq war you will not find any comment from Conservative commentators or editorials. One would of thought our "good friend" in the oval office would have made certain to our "good friends" in the pentagon who ran that war at the very least made certain Israel would have been given future air and landing rights. But then Israel is the core of why there is no peace..hah? Damn Israel!
And they all have the unmitigated gall (with straight faces) to proclaim the security of Israel is first and foremost. In reality they still have us thrown into a Ghetto of sorts. Mazel Tov, nothing changes.
Loving us and hating us is politically driven for the most part. At it's core, the absolute reason; the very pinnacle of why we as Jews have been scrambling for our very existence since time immemorial.
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