BELOW AND ABOVE THE RADAR

BELOW AND ABOVE THE RADAR

There’s a sequel to the armaments display in the hanger at Ben Gurion Airport I mentioned last week.

President Joe Biden was given a tour of Israel’s multi-tier air defence systems, including the long-range Arrow, medium-range David’s Sling, short-range Iron Dome, and a high-powered laser interception system dubbed Iron Beam. The latter was unveiled at the Singapore Airshow in 2014 by Israeli defence contractor Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.

Israel hopes to partner with the US on the Iron Beam project, including American investment in further development and deployment of the system.

I mentioned the Iron Beam earlier this year. It uses a fibre laser to destroy an airborne target within 4–5 seconds of firing at a range of 7 km. Whether acting as a stand-alone system or with external cueing as part of an air-defence system, a threat is detected by a surveillance system and tracked by vehicle platforms in order to engage the target. The main benefits of using a directed energy weapon over conventional missile interceptors are lower costs per shot, unlimited number of firings, lower operational costs, and less manpower. There is also no interceptor debris to fall on the area protected. The cost of each interception is negligible, unlike expensive missile interceptors—around US$3.50 per shot to cover all costs, against $100,000 to $150,000 per interceptor firing. Other sources Air Force magazine estimated the cost at $20-100,000 per interceptor, whereas an earlier estimate made by the Israeli business daily Calcalist quoted an approximate cost of $50,000 per interceptor.

Even with reduced inceptor costs, the Iron Dome Defence System is expensive, but invaluable. Since it first came into service it has saved hundreds of lives.

Viewing Israel’s multi-tier air defence systems it’s obvious that our defence concept was tailored specifically for our needs. Nonetheless, it’s components can be sold separately as stand-alone units or integrated into existing weapons systems.

 A case in point is an American prototype air defence system based on Israel’s Iron Dome which has successfully completed a set of trials, simulating threats the US Marine Corps is expected to face.

The system — dubbed Marine Corps’ Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) — combines the Iron Dome’s launcher and Tamir interceptor missiles with a Marines radar and command centre.

In the first trial, MRIC hit several simultaneously-launched targets, which simulated cruise missiles approaching from different directions and on different trajectories.

Whereas the US marines anticipated the successful integration of the Iron Dome system, the US Army reluctantly purchased two Iron Dome systems after acquiescing to pressure from Congress. At the time, the US army’s top generals claimed the Iron Dome was incompatible with the US air-defence array. Maybe now they will change their minds.   

Let’s add a margin note here to consider earlier laser beam systems:

The Tactical High-Energy Laser, or THEL, was a laser developed for military use, also known as the Nautilus laser system. The mobile version is the Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser or MTHEL. In 1996, the United States and Israel entered into an agreement to produce a cooperative THEL called the Demonstrator, which would utilise deuterium fluoride chemical laser technologies. In 2000 and 2001 THEL shot down 28 Katyusha artillery rockets and five artillery shells. On November 4, 2002, THEL shot down an incoming artillery shell. The prototype weapon was roughly the size of six city buses, made up of modules that held a command centre, radar and a telescope for tracking targets, the chemical laser itself, fuel and reagent tanks, and a rotating mirror to reflect its beam toward speeding targets. It was discontinued in 2005.

Returning to the main text and the Iron Beam System: In 2016 laser power levels were reported to be tens of kilowatts. While official information is not available, a 2020 report said that Iron Beam was thought to have a maximum effective range of up to 7 km, and could destroy missiles, UAVs (drones), and mortar shells around four seconds after the twin high-energy fibre-optic lasers make contact with their target. In effect, it complements the Iron Dome System destroying short-range projectiles.

Lockheed Martin is also developing laser weapon systems. The US defence corporation is developing a product “designed to defeat a growing range of threats to military forces and infrastructure.”

“Our beam control technology enables precision equivalent to shooting a beach ball off the top of the Empire State Building from the San Francisco Bay Bridge,”  Lockheed-Martin claims. It’s reasonable to assume that their product, unlike our Iron Beam, isn’t intended for ‘shooting grouse.’

Joking aside, the comparison illustrates different concerns. While we are focused on threats emanating from Iran, the US is facing the possibility of more distant threats.

In a recent Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) publication the authors (Tamir Hayman and Sima Shine) said, “Prior to, during and after President Biden’s ME tour, heightened discussion of a ‘regional air defence alliance’ was met by increased Iranian activity to block any such measure, including explicit threats that in turn prompted rejection of the idea by senior Gulf figures. It appears that at this stage, relations between Israel and the Gulf states that remain below the radar are preferable to grandiose public statements that do match the reality on the ground.”

“Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei's political advisor who was Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs for many years, asserted explicitly: "The closer the Gulf states move toward Israel, the further they move away from Iran." An Iranian military spokesman warned the United States and Israel, insisting they were aware of the price of using the word "force" against Iran. Commenting on Biden's visit, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that as long as Washington's primary objective was strengthening the security and supremacy of the "fake state" called Israel, the peoples and states of the region would not attain stability and peace.”

“Some of the Iranian responses emphasize that reinforcing Israel's military supremacy is also likely to be directed against Arab and Islamic groups other than Iran. Tehran is thereby trying to embarrass regimes in the region by appealing to their respective publics and taking advantage of the fact that many do not necessarily share their governments' views on rapprochement with Israel.”

“Furthermore, the capability and desire of all the involved parties to establish a common defence system connecting interceptors to a transfer of intelligence information from radar and satellites in real-time is questionable, at least at this stage. This challenge is compounded by difference in systems: Israel operates domestically-produced interceptor systems – Iron Dome, David's Sling, and others – while other countries in the region operate an assortment of American systems, as well as Russian and Chinese systems. Furthermore, the Gulf states are under an immediate concrete Iranian threat: their oil infrastructure is exposed to an Iranian threat and their shipping lanes are controlled by Iran, and it is clear they will not take the risk of publicly cooperating with Israel.”

In assessing President Biden's visits to the region, several questions arise in this context. Has Israel's deterrence against Iran been strengthened or weakened? Has the abundance of talk about a regional system that was never likely to materialise on a  large scale, and whose prospects are now receding, proved a help or a hindrance in its promotion? Perhaps it is best to revert to past below-the-radar methods of operation that focus on furthering security interests shared by Israel and other countries in the region.

And on another but no less important level: the discourse in Israel, whereby the Palestinian issue is portrayed as no longer important to countries in the region and therefore no longer delays normalisation between Israel and Arab countries, reinforces the "treason narrative" disseminated by the Palestinian Authority as a criticism of the Abraham Accords countries. This narrative is gaining traction among the public in the region and certainly does not contribute to an atmosphere conducive to bringing relations with Israel to the surface.

That being said, mention of the deployment of Israeli strike drones is no longer taboo.

The IDF military censor lifted the ban and allowed publication of its use of strike drones during its military operations.

After extensive examination, the military censor decided that there was no impediment to the publication, the military censor said in a statement adding that there would be no impact on the military's capability or means.

The drones have been used by the air force and artillery units and were part of the IDF's operations to foil terrorist attacks from the Gaza strip, Syria and Lebanon in the past 30 years.

The drones vary in size, and some can strike from a distance of dozens of kilometres away from a target.

Some of the strike drones made in Israel were sold to foreign armies in several continents, with deals worth billions of dollars.

The last time a drone was used was Tuesday, when gunfire from Gaza targeted an Israeli agricultural community near the border. “A drone was used to strike at a Hamas military position in Northern Gaza, in Beit Hanoun.” the IDF said in a statement.

Two weeks ago, the IDF used a drone against a target near Quneitra on the Syrian Golan Heights. Reports in Lebanon and Syria claimed the strike was carried out by a rocket launched from a drone

Hermes 450 Strike drone

 

 

“A Syrian citizen was killed near his home after he was hit by an Israeli guided missile launched from a military base in the Golan Heights,” the Syrian military said. Over the years, international media reported on Israeli use of strike drones, but an official statement was never made until now.

In one of the reports, Fox News said in 2021, that Israel made use of drones to gather intelligence, and hit targets during the May fighting with Hamas.

 

Above and below the radar.

 

Take care.

 

Beni,                                                               21^st of July, 2022.