Israel plans to destroy Iran's missiles on the ground?
Take this with a grain of salt, because the source is the Sunday Times of London's notalwaysreliableUziMahnaimi. This time Mahnaimi is claiming that Israel has stationed (or will station) Eitan/Heron drones in Azerbaijan. The drones will be used to destroy Iranian missiles on the ground as soon as their engines are fired using data from the x-band radar stationed in Israel under United States control (Hat Tip: Director Blue).
According to the report Sunday, an
American-made X-band radar system deployed at the Nevatim airbase in the
Negev “can detect an Iranian missile on its launchpad 1,000 miles to
the northeast,” giving Israel up to 13 minutes of warning.
The report quoted an Israeli military source
as saying “We’ll try to ‘kill’ them at the booster stage — the moment
their engines are ignited.”
Reportedly, such a preemptive strike would be
carried out with American Hellfire missiles, delivered by Eitan drones —
also known as Herons — based in Azerbaijan.
“If that happens, and it isn’t as easy as it
sounds, then the remaining missiles will be finished off by our Air
Defense Command,” a “well-informed Israeli source” was quoted as saying.
Let's assume for a minute that this story is true. Why would anyone tell Mahnaimi - and only Mahnaimi - about it?
The Eitan is certainly capable of doing this sort of thing, but if Israel has actually gotten Azerbaijan to allow us to use their bases (and this hascome upbefore), why would anyone leak that fact to Mahnaimi?
Sorry folks, but this one reminds me of Perrytales. It sounds cool, but there's really nothing behind it.
Gee, you think they were looking for an excuse? Turkey is returning three Heron drones to Israel, provoking yet another commercial dispute between the two countries.
Turkey decided to send the three Heron drones
back after technical problems were found with the aircraft, Turkish news
outlet NTV reported. Turkey acquired the drones four years ago as part
of a 10 drone, $183 million deal with Israel Aerospace Industries.
According to Israel Radio, Ankara claimed the
Israeli government has rejected repeated requests to repair the
aircraft, as specified in their agreement. As a result, Turkey has
decided to return them to Israel and demand compensation for damages
incurred because of Israel’s unwillingness to meet its obligations.
One of the planes crashed while operating on a
mission in southeastern Turkey and two others haven’t been used in
eight months due to technical issues, Turkey claimed, according to the
NTV report.
IAI responded to the report saying that it had
stood by all its obligations regarding repair of the aircraft, and that
it did not know what the problem was.
Last year, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported
that Turkey returned several Heron drones for repair because
of ”engine-related” and “other problems.” After delays in getting them
back to Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly complained.
Israel then returned the drones and sent technicians to fix them.
It was not clear whether the Herons being returned to Israel were the same ones that required repair in 2011.
IAI doesn't know what the problem is? (I know I have at least one regular reader at IAI...). The problem is that Turkey wants nothing to do with Israel and therefore is willing to act against its own interests to embarrass and harm Israel. Well, let them. But don't pay them a red cent in compensation over this one.
The Defense Ministry initiated talks with Germany last year about buying a sixth submarine but Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government initially balked when Israel asked that it underwrite part of the cost. In late November, though, Germany announced that it had approved the deal and that it would pay for part of the vessel.
Christian Schmidt, secretary of state for defense, told the Post that the contract was signed a few weeks ago and that Germany had agreed to subsidize its cost. Calling Israel a “preferred customer,” Schmidt said the sale of the submarine was a demonstration of his country’s commitment to Israel’s security.
“The security of the State of Israel is a German concern and this will not change,” he said during a visit to Israel during which he met with Israeli diplomatic and defense officials and attended the Herzliya Conference.
Schmidt dismissed media reports that claimed Merkel had considered canceling the deal in response to Israeli construction in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood, over the Green Line.
“We are good friends and sometimes we need to talk about things that we do not think should be done regarding the settlement policy,” Schmidt said. “We do not see this as a linkage [to the submarine issue] but as a part of friendly talks.”
Israel already has three Dolphinclass submarines and two are currently under construction in Germany with delivery expected later this year. According to foreign reports, Israel’s submarines have a second-strike capability and carry cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
For those of you sitting with your mouths agape wondering why Germany continues to trade with Iran and yet also provides Israel with preferential treatment, perhaps these paragraphs hold the explanation.
Schmidt said that Germany was looking to increase its defense cooperation with Israel and was specifically interested in learning from the IDF about training and military doctrine.
He said that Germany was also considering buying the Heron TP long-range unmanned aerial vehicle later this decade to replace the Heron 1 it is operating in Afghanistan. Both UAVs are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries.
The Heron TP, Israel’s most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle, crashed on Sunday morning during a test flight near the Tel Nof Air Force Base outside Rehovot.
The Israel Air Force opened an investigation. According to initial findings, the crash occurred after the UAV performed a maneuver beyond its capabilities, causing one of its wings to break off. The aircraft was flying with a new navigation component that, the IAF suspects, might have disrupted the drone’s automatic flight systems.
The Heron TP is the largest UAV in the IAF. It has a 26- meter wingspan – the same as a Boeing 737 – and can stay airborne for up to 45 hours. It can carry a 1,000 kg. payload, making it capable of conducting a wide variety of missions.
According to foreign reports, it can also fire missiles, and in Israel it is often referred to as the UAV “that can reach Iran.”
The flight on Sunday was overseen by Israel Aerospace Industries and was held in conjunction with the IAF.
The crash was not at all kept a secret here. In fact, it was reported on the radio almost immediately.
Let's go to the videotape.
Also on Sunday, I got a tweet telling me about a new Twitter account. The account is anonymous (I have nothing to do with it and I don't know who is running it) called @tikkunolame. As some of you might guess, @tikkunolame is a parody of Richard Silverstein's Tikkun Olam. It seems that Silverstein has taken to posting parodies on his site to keep up.
An exclusive report from a confidential highly-placed Israeli source says that a booby-trapped drone crashed and exploded at the top-secret Israeli airbase Sdot Micha. Sdot Micha (also profiled here) is the home of the Israeli missile arsenal including its long-range Jerichos capable of striking Iran. There were civilian and military eyewitnesses to the crash, which happened within the perimeter fence of the facility, which covers a large area just outside Bet Shemesh.
The eyewitnesses and Israel’s wish to avoid pressure to retaliate against the Iranians, necessitated the publication of a media cover story. The story claims an advanced Israeli drone crashed near the Yesodot moshav, 10 miles from Sdot Micha. Israel also claims the drone took off from Tel Nof airbase. Eyewitnesses may be able to produce video documentation of the precise location of the crash unless it is impounded by the IDF.
I think that video is the one I posted above. It doesn't sound much like Richard's story, does it? And we know how reliable Richard's sources are, don't we?
And in an update to his sensationalist story, Silverstein all but admits it's false.
None of this means I can knowingly report stories that are false (nor would I ever do so). On the other hand, I am reporting stories that aren’t (and usually can’t be) corroborated by second or third independent sources. That in turn means that the mainstream media is too conservative and cautious to publish my original reporting. This may save them from reporting a story that turns out to be criticized or unsubstantiated; but it also causes them to lose out when I report major stories embarrassing to the Israeli military-intelligence community. That’s why you’ll never see Reider or GRN breaking the story of Anat Kamm, Dirar Abusisi, Ameer Makhoul, the Eilat terror attacks, or Shamai Leibowitz.
My critics fundamentally misunderstand what I do. My primary job isn’t to be an oracular James Reston or Walter Cronkite and only report what is scientifically, verifiably true and be right 100% of the time. My primary job is to be right as often as I can while staying true to the reasons I write this blog in the first place: to promote transparency in Israeli military-intelligence matters, Israeli democracy, and to oppose military adventurism. This is a tightrope act, one that is difficult to negotiate since there are so many unknowns, so much concealed information.
The goal of the national security state is to render its affairs as opaque as possible. It is to shut off information to journalists, bloggers and even its own citizens. That’s why it’s sometimes so damn hard to know if you got it right. But if anyone thinks I’m going to be deterred by the fact that every once in a while the I’s aren’t dotted or the T’s aren’t crossed or that even, God forbid, my source may get it wrong (which I do not concede in this instance), they’re sorely mistaken. I’ll accept the brickbats of Dimi Reider, Dapna Baram and others for the sake of the greater good of exposing the dangers a rampant Israel may pose to the region and the world.
The difference between Silverstein and the rest of us is that when we report something that's speculation, we don't report it as fact. We report that it's speculation. And we don't do it from 9,000 miles away where whatever we get is much more likely to be unverified and unverifiable.
But then, we wouldn't want Richard to make aliya, would we?
Better cut the dose of hallucinogens Richard. Heh.
According to reports by Turkish intelligence agencies, Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated by Israel that have been observed in Hatay and Adana provinces in recent months spied for the terrorist Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).
Turkish intelligence agencies prepared a report after the detection of two Israeli Herons in Hatay and Adana roughly two months ago, claiming that the Herons are collecting intelligence on Turkish military units in order to aid PKK operations in those regions.
The report asserts that the PKK's training camps in northern Syria, near Turkey's Hatay border “where Turkish military border posts are relatively weak” were established in those locations based on intelligence collected by the UAVs.
The report also claims that Kenan Yıldızbakan, a PKK member who commanded an assault against a Turkish naval base in İskenderun in 2010, has made repeated trips into Israeli territory, reinforcing suspicions of a possible link between Israeli and the PKK.
I hope this story is true. It's long overdue. One of the first rules of life here in the Middle East is 'my enemy's enemy is my friend.' And the Kurds of Turkey are (or can be) a lot more to us than our enemy's enemy.
Israeli drone 'almost' shot down over Turkey, but Turks fled instead
Turkish media reports claim that an Israeli Heron spy drone was 'almost' shot down over southern Turkey. But it's apparent from the reports that one reason it was not shot down was because Turkish forces fled.
"The Israeli 'Heron' drone was detected spying on military headquarters in Turkey's southern Hatay province," the report stated, adding that "the aircraft hovered over the Turkish forces in order to capture images of missile batteries and radar equipment."
A Turkish officer, who reportedly noticed a bright light in the sky, asked a senior sergeant to confirm the identity of the object. When they received confirmation, the soldiers abandoned their post for fear of an attack.
Meanwhile, the report claimed the Turkish radar continued to monitor the unmanned aerial vehicle, while the Turkish army waited for authorization to shoot it down.
The report stated that "by the time the order was given, the drone had already left the area."
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit refused to comment on the Turkish report.
There's video from a Turkish website here (sorry - I couldn't embed it).
Turkey's Today's Zaman reports that the drone was over Turkey for four hours.
An Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was observed spying above the 14th Hawk B. Brigade Command in Hatay’s Kırıkhan district for four hours, the Taraf daily claimed on Tuesday.
The aerial vehicle was hovering over the brigade command post in order to capture pictures of missile batteries and radar equipment.
According to the daily’s report, the Israeli drone was first noticed by a military lieutenant, who saw a white light flashing in the sky. Later he asked an air defense senior sergeant to verify what he had seen, who confirmed that a drone was hovering over the command post.
All the military personnel then left the post in preparation for a possible attack.
Radar followed the Israeli drone as military officials waited for the order to shoot it down. Higher ranked military officials did not reply to the radar center’s call before the drone moved out of range.
At the same time as the events in Hatay, the Diyarbakır 2nd Air Force Command Strike Center was also tracking the drone. Upon an insistent request of the Hatay command, the Diyarbakır command center sent two F-16 fighter jets to the region, where they tracked and followed the drones, and eventually returned to their base in Diyarbakır.
Brilliant: Israel sent Heron drones back to Turkey
YNet reports that Israel has repaired and returned to Turkey the Heron unmanned aerial vehicles that Turkey bought from Israel and has been using to attack its Kurdish population.
About two months ago Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of failing to meet its obligations in defense deals, adding to tensions with Israel which have escalated since an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla killed nine people last year.
Erdogan accused the Jewish state of not returning drones that Turkey had bought from Israel and sent back for maintenance.
They are not loyal to agreements between us in the defense industry," Erdogan said. "There might be problems, you may not be speaking to each other, but you have to fulfill your responsibility under international agreements."
According to Wednesday's report in Zaman, the drones have been returned to Turkey. The report further claimed that after a long period in which Israeli technicians refrained from visiting Turkey for security reasons, Israel sent technicians employed by Aeronautics, the company which manufactures the drones, to work on drones at a Turkish army base.
In a conversation with Ynet, a Israeli security official confirmed that the drones had recently been returned to Turkey, but denied any delay in the shipment. "The company returned all of the drones on schedule," he said.
Whoever made this decision has a masochistic streak. Why should we be giving Turkey anything?
Turkish newspaper accuses Israel of providing intelligence to Assad
A Turkish newspaper is accusing Israel of using its Heron unmanned aerial vehicles to gather intelligence information on Syrian insurgents and provide it to the forces of Syria's embattled President, Bashar al-Assad (link in Turkish, Google translation here) (Hat Tip: Donna D).
Israel, using an unmanned aerial vehicle Heronları opponents claim that information was transferred to Damascus. Intense internal conflicts Heronların Hama, Homs, Aleppo and Damascus, said information is being collected. All camps are also closely followed by their positions in the Israeli government said. Visits to the camps in the region of the Syrians that there were in Israel in the images. Some time ago, a fisherman off the town of Adana's Karatas network components were implanted in Heron. Heron in Turkey, as well as the possibility of making intelligence activities may be carried out in flight for Syrian dissidents said.
In light of the upheavals in the region, and on the backdrop of the provocative protests held on the fence about half a year ago – in which Syrian and Lebanese nationals were killed by IDF fire – the defense establishment is not ruling out radical scenarios of internal-Syrian escalation in the towns and villages along the border.
Assad enjoys a state of calm in the border area, mainly because the Syrian army has permanent posts and massive presence in the area since the 1974 ceasefire agreements. The calm on the streets of Quneitra, and other villages in the area, is carefully maintained.
But the IDF is not ruling out the radical possibility, which is currently defined as slim, that the bloody riots will spread to village near the border.
One of the possible ways of action considered is dealing with Syrian refugees who will storm the border seeking political asylum, as they have been doing on Syria's borders with Turkey and Jordan.
Despite the low probability, in such a situation the refugees are expected to receive temporary shelter in Israel.
In light of these considerations, the IDF is close to completing a lineup of barriers along the border with Syria. Minefields have been renewed, deep tunnels have been dug, and a new barbed-wire fence has been deployed in sensitive areas.
The construction of the new crossing in Quneitra, which now includes the only concrete guard post along the border – has also been completed, and is expected to provide a better response in case the protests resume.
But while Israel may fear a rush for the border if things get more out of hand in Syria, the government has gone out of its way to remain neutral in the current conflict and it is inconceivable to me that we are now going to support Bashar al-Assad of all people, even if he is the devil we know. It appears far more likely that the opposition is starting these rumors in a bid to rally anti-Israel sentiment against Assad.
Bottom line: While it's plausible that Israel is observing the goings-on in Syria via the Herons, it is highly unlikely that information is being passed on to Assad.
It wasn't very secret before and it's even less secret now: US intelligence officials have told Eli Lake that Israel plans to attack Iran using electronic warfare.
A U.S. intelligence assessment this summer, described to The Daily Beast by current and former U.S. intelligence officials, concluded that any Israeli attack on hardened nuclear sites in Iran would go far beyond airstrikes from F-15 and F-16 fighter planes and likely include electronic warfare against Iran’s electric grid, Internet, cellphone network, and emergency frequencies for firemen and police officers.
For example, Israel has developed a weapon capable of mimicking a maintenance cellphone signal that commands a cell network to “sleep,” effectively stopping transmissions, officials confirmed. The Israelis also have jammers capable of creating interference within Iran’s emergency frequencies for first responders.
In a 2007 attack on a suspected nuclear site at al-Kibar, the Syrian military got a taste of this warfare when Israeli planes “spoofed” the country’s air-defense radars, at first making it appear that no jets were in the sky and then in an instant making the radar believe the sky was filled with hundreds of planes.
Israel also likely would exploit a vulnerability that U.S. officials detected two years ago in Iran's big-city electric grids, which are not “air-gapped”—meaning they are connected to the Internet and therefore vulnerable to a Stuxnet-style cyberattack—officials say.
A highly secretive research lab attached to the U.S. joint staff and combatant commands, known as the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC), discovered the weakness in Iran’s electrical grid in 2009, according to one retired senior military intelligence officer. This source also said the Israelis have the capability to bring a denial-of-service attack to nodes of Iran’s command and control system that rely on the Internet.
Tony Decarbo, the executive officer for JWAC, declined comment for this story. The likely delivery method for the electronic elements of this attack would be an unmanned aerial vehicle the size of a jumbo jet. An earlier version of the bird was called the Heron, the latest version is known as the Eitan. According to the Israeli press, the Eitan can fly for 20 straight hours and carry a payload of one ton. Another version of the drone, however, can fly up to 45 straight hours, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.
Israel's drone 'Heron' crashed in the Mediterranean Sea area near the Karatas district in the Adana city, Turkey, the Sabah newspaper reported.
According to reports, local fishermen revealed the crashed drone and then it was sent to Ankara to the appropriate authorities for a specific analysis.
District Governor Mustafa Kilic refused to comment on this fact, saying that he lacks clear information about it.
I suspect that this story is not true. First, I am told that the local governor has denied it (link in Turkish).
Second, if the Turks really had shot down an Israeli spy plane, they would be gloating about it everywhere by now.
It's more likely that something like this happened:
Recently, there have been statements here in Israel that give the impression that a strike against Iran may be imminent.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared to have made a veiled reference to the issue again on Tuesday, when he told the Knesset that Israel may have to protect its vital interests alone, while other reports focused on comments by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who stated this week that difficult decisions were “keeping him up at nights,” without elaborating further.
Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke about Iran in his address to the opening session of the Knesset on Monday, the first time in quite a while that Iran has been given such prominence. Herb Keinon reports that Israel has the capabilities to carry out a strike.
Israel is believed to have a fully prepared plan to launch such a strike, which would likely involve at least several hundred aircraft.
Multiple aerial routes are theoretically available for Israeli aircraft to reach targets in Iran. In all those paths though, the jets would likely have to either neutralize or evade radar systems of other countries along the route, as well as face the potential fallout that could follow an intrusion of foreign airspace.
Israel also possesses the advanced midair refueling capabilities required for carrying out sorties over multiple Iranian targets situated between 1,500 and 2,000 km. away from home. Possible targets could include uranium- enrichment sites at Natanz and Qom, the uranium- conversion plant at Isfahan, and a heavy water reactor in Arak suspected of being used to pursue a plutonium-based nuclear arms program, as well as additional facilities.
But that's only part of the story:
The Air Force, which according to foreign reports has gone on dry runs to practice such an attack on previous occasions over the past decade, would first have to neutralize Iran’s aerial defense capabilities, blind Iran’s radars, destroy command and control centers and paralyze Iran’s own air force for a while, before overcoming fortifications and special aerial defense measures placed by the Iranians around their nuclear sites. The operational challenge is vast.
The Air Force would in effect have to take temporary control over sections of Iran’s airspace before being able to target nuclear facilities, some of which are hidden in mountains or deep underground.
The mission would require the use of powerful bunker-busting bombs, as well as possible repeated strikes to ensure success.
...
The attack would likely be coordinated with the assistance of Israeli intelligence satellites that could provide real time detailed images from the battle arena, as well as Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft.
It could also involve the use of a fleet of giant Heron 2 drones, which are the size of 737 commercial airliners.
These UAVs form the first line of defense against an expected Iranian counterstrike, involving the launch of long-range Shihab 3 missiles.
The Israeli drones can reportedly reach Iran and hover over missile launch sites. Israel’s Arrow missile defense shield would also come into play to intercept missiles heading into Israeli airspace.
It's been 42 years since France sold arms to or bought arms from Israel. Now, the French are going to be buying Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles.
The French Defense Ministry decided last week to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel, thereby bringing an end to a 42-year-old embargo on weapon purchases imposed by President Charles de Gaulle. The approved sale of Heron TP, or Eitan, will be the first time the drone is sold to a foreign country.
The Eitan is the largest and most sophisticated drone made in Israel. It is assembled by Israel Aerospace Industries, and went into operational service in the Israeli Air Force a year and a half ago. The Eitan has a wingspan of 26 meters – similar to that of a Boeing 737. It is capable of carrying out reconnaissance and intelligence missions in an altitude of up to 40,000 feet, and can remain airborne 36 hours. Eitan's large size allows it to carry a variety of equipment such as radars, sensors and camera, and, theoretically, missiles.
The French embargo had two immediate results: the first being that Israel began purchasing American fighter jets, first the Skyhawk, then the F-15 and F-16 and now the F-35, billed as the Israeli Air Forces next fighter aircraft. The second result was the acceleration of the domestic fighter jet industry.
The first plane assembled in Israel was the Eagle, in effect an Israeli-made French Mirage, using plans and sketches smuggled out of France. The Kfir fighter was later assembled, followed by the Lavi program, which was canceled after two prototypes were built.
The grounding of the Lavi caused the Israel Aerospace Industry and other companies such as Elbit to shift their focus to unmanned drones. Today, Israel is considered a leading player in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel Aerospace Industries refused to comment on the deal, but a senior security industry official said on the weekend that "this is a truly and historically coming full circle. The French embargo and de Gaulle's refusal to provide us with a French jet that was developed with Israeli expertise gave the Israeli industry a push, and now it the one providing France with an Israeli plane."
Although canceling the Lavi was a mistake, in retrospect, we ought to thank the French for helping us to realize our own capabilities.
Really neat videos of IAF's Heron TP unmanned aerial system in action
Here are a couple of really neat videos of the IAF's Heron TP unmanned aerial system in action.
Let's go to the videotape.
And here's the second one. Let's go to the videotape.
France's Dassault is proposing to lease the Heron TP from Israel Aerospace Industries for the French armed forces. I guess someone forgot to tell them that they're supposed to be boycotting Israel because of the 'settlement construction.'
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
