Modern Era Aerial Threats – Conference Summary

Modern Era Aerial Threats – Conference Summary

האלוף (במיל') עמוס ידלין מנהל המכון הלאומי למחקרי בטחון

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General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin
General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin

“The good news is that the missiles of the Syrian army are fired just north toward the Syrian cities and not south toward Israel. Syria threat against Israel has already reduced by ten percent” the statement by Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amos Yadlin, head of the Institute for National Security Studies, at the Conference summary of modern era aerial threats.

And more bad and good news, According to Yadlin, former head of IDF Intelligence: “The bad news is that Israel is currently the most threatened country by missiles and rockets. And the good news: Israel is the world’s most advanced country in protection against missiles and rockets. We have “HIT TO KILL” systems, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 and we have systems on which we never dreamed of 20 years ago”.

Regarding the threat of non-conventional weapons, Yadlin said the following: “The threat level rises, not so much the threat of chemical weapons, which are inefficient. But in dealing with the nuclear threat we are required to invest, and this investment’s required achievement is almost hermetic protection, which is difficult and complicated. What is the solution? The clue is deterrence. This is the right solution”.

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Gideon Landa, director of Airborne Systems at Elta (An IAI subsidiary), emphasized the essentiality in creating an aerial picture facing the threats. “The Airspace is full with manned and unmanned aircraft, high and low-altitude, missiles and rockets. In order to deal with them we must create an aerial picture that is accurate, capable of continuous tracking and highly capable of identification and classification. The solution is creating an aerial picture through an array of multi-disciplinary sensors scattered on the ground, air and land, mobile and stationary, active and passive, when they all are gathered together and operate using a command and control network”.

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Future thinking of creating a sensor array aims at sensing systems that operate on a variety of interconnected ground-based and airborne platforms, thus allowing unified task management, which is creating the aerial picture.

Dr. Oded Amichai elaborates in his lecture on laser systems. He argued that defense systems like Iron Dome has advantages and disadvantages. For Example, the system is not able to protect the areas surrounding Gaza and cannot intercept mortar shells and missiles cost is enormous. The Price of an Iron Dome missile is one hundred thousand dollars, “magic wand” missile – one million, Arrow-2 or Arrow-3 missile – between 2 and 3 million. Therefore Dr. Amichai believes that the concept of multi – tiered defense that consists only on missiles and kinetic capabilities is inadequate, and we are starting to consider developing laser systems. It is Correct that laser beams range is limited and is very sensitive to the weather, Yet on the other hand – new models, some futures and some experimental, are chemical laser with advantages : a relatively simple operation, greater range, more power. For example, SKYGUARD requires one megawatt of power, range 10 km and time interception three seconds. According to the lecturer, eight Skyguard laser systems can block and protect all surrounding the Gaza Strip, and 26 of such systems are able to protect the northern border. Optimal solution for missile defense is a combination of missile interceptors and laser systems.

By iHLS NewsDesk

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