Wednesday 18 August 2010

IAF Sets New Guidelines in Case of War with Hezbollah, Hamas

18/08/2010 Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post published a report on Tuesday in which it said that the Israeli Air Force set new guidelines for flying in airspace in case of war with Hezbollah and Hamas.

The report said that in a future war with Hezbollah and Hamas, there would likely be thousands of missiles fired into the Zionist entity. In response, Israel will likely fire hundreds, if not thousands, of interceptors.

“With such a busy airspace, how does the Israel Air Force’s fleet of helicopters, fighter jets and drones fit in? This question was at the center of a study conducted by the IAF aimed at setting new guidelines for flying in airspace filled with enemy missiles and Israeli interceptors,” the Israeli daily added.

The study was conducted by the IAF together with its Air Defense Division, which is responsible for operating missile defense systems such as the Arrow, the Patriot and the soon-to-be deployed Iron Dome, which will be used to shoot down short-range rockets like the Katyushas that are the backbone of Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s missile arsenals.

Following the study, the IAF set new guidelines for flying in Israeli airspace including specific altitudes. Interceptors will be deployed in areas that will not endanger Israeli aircraft. The air force has also integrated new communications systems to increase missile-defense operators’ awareness of other assets that are in the air.

“The skies are going to be jammed in a future conflict and we need to learn how to operate everything together,” a senior Israeli occupation Air Force officer said on Monday.

At the same time, the Israeli occupation army is in talks with the Defense Ministry regarding the scheduled deployment of the Iron Dome in a few months. The main question is where to deploy the batteries, each of which include a number of launchers and dozens of Tamir interceptors developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

One possibility, supported by the Israeli army, is to immediately deploy the batteries along the border with the Gaza Strip, where most of the rockets fired at the occupied territories these days are launched from. The alternative is to store the systems in IAF bases and deploy them according to operational requirements.

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