Rockets VS Fighter Aircraft – The Debate Is On

Rockets VS Fighter Aircraft – The Debate Is On

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

By ARIE EGOZI

Technology creates new capabilities and that affect the role of some forces including that of the Israeli Air Force (IAF).

While the IAF has and will have a crucial role in the task of protecting Israel’s security with some missions that it has performed solely, there is a quiet fight in the Israeli defence establishment to re-define some of the combat missions.

In the focus of the fight is the use of precise rockets as a substitute for aircrafts in performing air-to-surface missions.

Some years ago, the idea was rejected but now it was brought up for another round of discussions.

Two Israeli companies, Israel aerospace industries (IAI) and Israel military industries (IMI), have developed a range of very mobile, non expensive very precise rockets . Some can be launched from multi launchers that are capable of fast reaction and the creation of a large kill zone. The two companies claim that these rockets can deliver the needed close support fire to ranges of up to 200 kms.

Only some designs of the rockets have been exposed while others are still classified.

The Israeli sources say that the rockets are not capable of suppressing massive launch of rockets like the ones that are used by the Hezbollah in Lebanon but are perfect to hit selected targets that can disappear if the reaction time is not short enough.

“To stop a barrage of rockets from Lebanon, the air force will still have to perform heavy bombing but the precise rockets are capable for other missions that today are performed by fixed-wind and helicopters,” one senior Israeli source said.

With the place of the IAF in the hierarchy of the Israeli defence forces this is going to be one very fierce and interesting fight – not with air bombs or rockets but with lots of emotions based on tradition.

Changes are not always achieved in the needed pace especially when some of the decision makers sat in cockpits attached to jet engines.

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