(En - 28 Jan 2014 - News) MKs, Israeli dignitaries stuck on plane in Poland

Some 20 ministers, members of Knesset and dignitaries, part of a larger Israeli delegation that traveled to Poland Monday to make International Holocaust Remembrance Day, were stuck for hours overnight on the tarmac of the military airport in Krakow because of a technical problem with their Israir plane.

The problem was reportedly with one of the plane’s wings.

 

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett was among the stranded passengers, as was opposition head Isaac Herzog and State Comptroller Yosef Shapira. A replacement aircraft was due to arrive in Krakow at approximately 8 a.m. Israel time, reported Israel Radio.

 

Several other members of the delegation had left earlier on an El Al flight, according to Walla News. It was the largest-ever group of Israeli officials to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

 

Bennett, Housing Minister Uri Ariel, Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, and Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz joined some 60 Knesset members, 24 Holocaust survivors and their families, as well as 250 prominent public figures, including Shapira, Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev on the trip to Poland, where they took part in several memorial ceremonies.

 

The group was led by Herzog and coalition head Yariv Levin. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who was supposed to head the delegation, was unable to travel due to the death of his wife on Friday. 

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(Fr - 27 Jan 2014 - Actu) Nouveau raid israélien sur Lattaquié?

Un base de missiles russes S-300 aurait été visée, Israël se refuse à tout commentaire

L'aviation israélienne aurait attaqué une base militaire syrienne située dans la ville portuaire de Lattaquié (nord-ouest), écrit lundi le journal israélien Haaretz citant des médias libanais.
Le site israélien Ynet, qui rapporte des sources occidentales, évoque lui-aussi un raid éventuel de Tsahal précisant que les avions de Tsahal auraient visé un entrepôt de missiles S-300 de fabrication russe.

Aucune confirmation officielle de ces informations n'est disponible pour le moment, les responsables militaires israéliens se refusent à tout commentaire pour l'heure.

Auparavant, les médias ont à plusieurs reprises fait état de frappes aériennes israéliennes contre Lattaquié. En octobre 2013, un porte-parole de l'administration américaine a confirmé que des avions israéliens avaient bombardé la base militaire déployée dans la ville pour détruire les missiles et d'autres équipements qui y étaient stockés.

Par ailleurs, les médias libanais affirment que des appareils israéliens survolaient lundi matin l'espace aérien libanais en particulier au-dessus de la ville de Baalbek, située au nord de la plaine de la Bekaa, provoquant la panique des habitants en raison du passage à très basse altitude du mur du son. Deux boums auraient été entendus ce lundi matin, selon la chaîne Al Manar proche du Hezbollah, le mouvement terroriste chiite libanais. Selon des témoins, les avions israéliens ont survolé ce secteur à plusieurs reprises ces deux derniers jours.
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(En - 26 Jan 2014 - Misc) A look into Israeli Air Force’s most important and active Spyplanes

100 Sqn is not only the oldest Israeli Air Force unit.

The Squadron of the “Flying Camels” is also IAF’s most active one in terms of flying hours.
It has taken part in each war fought by Israel since 1948 War of Independence, and its spyplanes almost constantly fly over the Israel-Lebanon border, near Gaza, or wherever they are requested to collect imagery, observe ground targets and detect any Hamas or Hezbollah activity.
In fact, its task is to provide visual intelligence and targeting to make Israel’s air strikes surgical (and effective).

The squadron is equipped with the “Tzufit”, a highly modified Beech 200 Super King Air that has been packed with advanced (and mostly secret) electro-optic surveillance systems that acts as a spyplane as well as an airborne command post.

During its routine surveillance flights, the aircraft gathers data that is used to build up and update a database of ground targets: if a suspect activity or an actual rocket attack is reported inside the Gaza Strip, one of the aircraft is promptly scrambled to spot the target (if not already flying in the vicinity), identify and select it, “clean it” (confirming that there are no civilians nearby), and then live broadcast the images of the terrorists to a wide variety of “customers”, attack planes, helicopter, drones, ground patrols, that will have the task to actually destroy it.

In other words, the modified, seemingly harmless twin-turboprop plane is pivotal to the entire process that goes from the selection to the destruction of the target.

100 Sqn commander, Lt. Col. Yoav (last name was not released) was recently interviewed by the Jerusalem Post at the unit headquarters at Sde Dov airport in Tel Aviv.

What he said is interesting under several points of view.

First of all, he explained that the Beech aircraft of his squadron support army forces in Judea and Samaria, on the Gaza border, and have also flown abroad, when they have taken part to a joint exercise with the Hellenic Air Force in Crete.

Then, he highlighted the importance of manned intelligence platforms versus drones, unveiling a subtle competition with UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) crews: piloted planes can observe ground targets from a greater distances, and from higher altitudes, staying out of the envelope of surface-to-air missiles. Furthermore, the “Tzufit” turboprop are faster than drones (hence it can quickly be diverted to follow a “target of opportunity”) and is less affected by bad weather.

Once the target has been handed over to an attack platform, the subsequent strike can be called off even when a missile is already in the air on its way to the target.

“We are connected to everything happening in the Middle East,” Yoav said to the JP. “If something happens, we get involved,” and we can understand the reason.
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(Fr - 24 Jan 2014 - Actu) Un pilote israélien à la télé libanaise

Une équipe de télévision libanaise a eu un rare accès à une base de l'armée de l'air israélienne afin de faire passer le message qu'Israël suit de près le Hezbollah pour empêcher que la Syrie lui transfert des armes de pointe.

Dans un reportage diffusé mercredi, un journaliste de la chaîne libanaise LBC s'est entretenu avec le capitaine et commandant d'escadron de la base aérienne Ramat David Avihai Aderi, qui est directeur des médias arabes au bureau des relations publiques de l'armée israélienne. M. Aderi a affirmé que les transferts d'armes pourraient mener Israël à lancer des attaques contre le sud Liban.

"L'armée israélienne sait que la livraison de ces armes stratégiques au Hezbollah à l’intérieur du Liban va entraîner la prochaine guerre », a déclaré le commandant d'escadron.

"Nous suivons de près les missions de contrebande d'armes de la Syrie vers le Liban, afin de les empêcher d'atteindre le Hezbollah", a déclaré l'officier de l'armée de l'air supérieur dont l'identité était dissimulée derrière la visière de son casque. "Le Hezbollah a commencé à recevoir des armes de type supérieur à celles des pays voisins et nous devons être prêts à répondre à un tel défi."

"Le Hezbollah a transformé 200 villages du sud Liban en caches à munitions, afin de les utiliser pour menacer le front intérieur israélien. L'armée israélienne ne peut pas laisser le Hezbollah nuire aux Israéliens si facilement», a déclaré M. Aderi, laissant entendre que l'armée connaissait l'emplacement des caches et serait susceptible de les bombarder si la guerre éclatait.

Israël a longtemps accusé le Hezbollah et d'autres organisations terroristes d'utiliser des civils comme boucliers humains, en tirant des roquettes à partir de zones peuplées. Israël n'a pas hésité à bombarder ces cibles dans le passé, malgré les condamnations internationales, faisant valoir qu'elles étaient des cibles militaires légitimes.

À au moins trois reprises plus tôt cette année, Israël aurait attaqué des convois et des caches d'armes en Syrie afin de les empêcher d'atteindre le Hezbollah au Liban.

Bien qu'Israël n'ait jamais confirmé les rapports, les responsables américains ont peut leur part confirmé.
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(En - 22 Jan 2014 - News) Israeli Herons Supplied to France end up in Morocco

International media sources have reported recently that Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) has acquired the three ‘Harfang’ unmanned aerial systems retired by the French Air Force after several years of service in Afghanistan. Harfang which deployed with the ‘Armee de’Lair’ in 2008 was delivered by EADS (Now Airbus Defense & Space), under the Eagle I cooperative development with Israel Aerospace Industries.

The drone was based on the Israeli IAI/Malat Heron-I system. Morocco and France have long established military cooperation, although in recent years Rabat has aligned closer to the US, procuring a range of new military systems, including F-16C/D Block 52 jet fighters, along with the latest air/air and air/ground weaponry, M-1A1 Main Battle Tanks and, as reported above, the Predator drones.

Morocco is regarded an important stronghold in West Africa, in the effort to push al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM) from its power bases in the Sahara. To combat irregular forces in the Sahara, Morocco has developed a significant reconnaissance and strike force, in which drones are becoming an important part. The agreement to transfer drones to Morocco is therefore a manifest to the level of support the country has among major powers.

According to media sources, the transfer of the Harfang to the Royal Moroccan Air Force was sealed in the spring of 2013. The three drones that remained in French service were transferred with their EO payloads, datalinks and satellite communications, part of which was integrated in France by EADS. In addition to the three Herons, the RMAF also operates four General Atomics Predator XP drones, believed to have been supplied directly from the USA. According to some sources, Morocco could receive additional drones sustaining the operation of the three systems acquired under the tripartite deal.
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(En - 22 Jan 2014 - News) IAF airstrike kills Gaza terror chief

According to the IDF, Israel targeted and hit Ahmad Zaanin, 21, a member of a Gaza-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s military wing, responsible for recent rocket fire against Israel. It said he fired the rockets that targeted Israel after the funeral for prime minister Ariel Sharon ended last Monday.

Reports from the Gaza Strip said a second Palestinian was killed in addition to the PFLP member. Relatives and ambulance services identified Zaanin as commander in the PFLP, and the second man was identified as belonging to the Islamic Jihad group.The Palestinian Ma’an News Agency identified the second man as Mahmoud Yousef Zaanin, 23.

The men, said to be cousins, were reportedly sitting in a parked car when it was hit by an IAF missile, residents told Reuters. Unconfirmed photos which claimed to show Ahmad Zaanin circulated on social media shortly after the airstrike.

The IDF said that the airstrike prevented an imminent rocket attack against Israel.

“Amongst [Zaanin's] most recent attack was launching of rockets during the former Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon’s funeral,” the IDF said in a statement. “Since 2009 Za’anin, with the cooperation of other terror bodies in the Gaza Strip, has endorsed numerous attacks such as sniping attacks and detonating explosive devices against IDF soldiers.”

“In his earlier days Za’anin was affiliated with the Islamic Palestinian Jihad, during which the terrorist operated towards the execution of terror attacks, most of which were rocket attacks, against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers,” the IDF said.

The airstrike came amid increased violence along the Israel-Gaza border. Since January 1, several dozen rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have exploded in Israel, the first escalation of its kind since the ceasefire that ended November 2012′s Operation Pillar of Defense.

Earlier this week, three rockets from the Gaza Strip were fired at the western Negev shortly before midnight on Monday.

There were no injuries or damage reported, as the explosions occurred in open area in the Eshkol Regional Council.

Earlier Monday evening, two Grad rockets were apparently fired at the Red Sea resort town of Eilat, striking an open area close to the city.

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(En - 19 Jan 2014 - News) Israeli company to unveil laser-based rocket interceptor

The new system, Iron Beam, is a high-energy, laser-based defensive system designed to knock mortar rounds, artillery shells and other projectiles out of the sky, according to a report Saturday on the industry website Israel Defense.

Iron Beam is designed to complement the Iron Dome missile defense system by focusing on smaller projectiles and “pinpoint defense,” the report noted.

The system would be most relevant to the Negev town of Sderot, which is situated less than four kilometers from Gaza and, therefore, largely unprotected by Iron Dome.

It would also reduce the cost of intercepting rockets from Gaza. While each Iron Dome interceptor is priced at close to $100,000, the cost of firing a laser beam is significantly lower.

 

The laser system, if made operational, would represent the “lowest level” of a multitiered system of missile defense, which, aside from Iron Beam and Iron Dome, includes David’s Sling for medium-range rockets and the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems to defend against long-range missiles.

 

The Iron Beam is to be presented for the first time at the 2014 Singapore Air Show, to be held on February 11-16, according to the Rafael website, which describes the system as a “High Energy Laser (HEL) based system against rockets, mortar and airborne target attacks.”

 

The US and Israel had, from 1996 to 2005, worked jointly on the development of a laser-based anti-rocket system called Nautilus.

 

The program cost the two countries $300 million, according to a New York Times report, but was shelved because of its perceived poor performance in cloudy weather and in combating salvos of fire.

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