The unexpected bonus of “staring” into Syria

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Following the use of Scud ballistic missiles by the Syrian regime enable the Israeli Air Force to learn about these missiles’ capabilities.

“We could not hope for a better simulation,” an Israeli source said recently. He was referring to the fact the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been  tracking the trajectories of all the surface – surface missiles the Syrian regime is using against the rebels since the civil war in the country began.

The ongoing civil war in Syria between the government and the extreme Islamic organizations that control parts of this country, pose a big problem for the IAF. The situation is ambiguous and fast changing, and the main concern is, that any of the terror groups will try and use one of the Syrian Air Force aircrafts fallen into their hands, in order to perform a dash suicide attack on Israel.

The IAF has been preparing itself for such a situation, and measures have been to respond immediately to any such attack. This is “zero time response”. But the constant stare of Israeli sensors into Syria, has had another, unexpected and positive, result. The Syrian regime has been using Scud surface-surface missiles against the rebels, and this allows the IAF to gather precious information about the way these missiles fly towards their target.

Colonel Aviram Hasson, department head at the Israel missile defense Administration ‘Homa’, conceded that the Syrian regime “provides us with a treasure” of information about the way the surface-surface missiles are being prepared for launching, and about their flight towards the target.”We have completely changed the Arrow anti-ballistic system following this information we gathered,” he explained.

The operational Arrow- 2 is constantly being upgraded, but the real- time data gathered by “staring” into Syria has accelerated the upgrading process and made it more precise.