Wednesday, 18 March 2009

IDF to US: Israel Closing In on Taking Military Aim at Iran

Adar 22, 5769, 18 March 09 12:04
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi gave United States officials fresh intelligence information on an Iranian nuclear facility during his “working visit” this week, according to the Saudi Arabia daily Al Watan.
The newspaper quoted sources that claimed Lieutenant-General Ashkenazi told American officials that Israel is preparing for a military attack. He added that the government still prefers to see if the Western world’s diplomatic pressures can succeed in stopping the growing threat that Iran soon will manufacture a nuclear weapon.
The new information concerned the facility in Arak, where a heavy water nuclear reactor is estimated to be operating. Iran also is building the Bushehr nuclear reactor at Natanz, where scientists will be able to enrich uranium that can be used for a bomb.
However, Lt.-Gen. Ashkenazi met only with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Special Middle East Envoy on Iran Dennis Ross and National Security Advisor, General James Jones.
He did not meet with his counterpart, Admiral Michael Mullen, or with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He cut short his planned five-day visit ostensibly to attend the Cabinet meeting on the collapse of negotiations for freeing kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
The IDF general’s trip coincided with the publication of a report by a Washington-based think tank that Israel could use “Jericho” ballistic missiles to destroy or at least damage Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Arak.
The missiles can hit a target with an error margin of only several feet. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that Israel has 42 Jericho missiles, and that their use is “much more feasible than using combat aircraft.”
Iran has buried its nuclear sites deep underground, making them a difficult target for aerial bombing.
However, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner told the Reuters news agency that the Natanz facility is so heavily fortified that an effective attack would require the use of bombs dropped into a hole created by a missile strike.
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The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

Russian media: Defense official confirms S-300 sale to Iran

Mar. 18, 2009
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST  
S-300PMU-2 vehicles. From...
S-300PMU-2 vehicles. From left to right: 64N6E2 detection radar, 54K6E2 command post and 5P85 TEL.

 
Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday that a top defense official confirmed Russia had indeed signed a contract to sell S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran, but that none of the weapons had been delivered.
Russian officials have consistently denied claims that it already provided some of the powerful missiles to Iran, and had not clarified whether a contract existed.
The state-run ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies, in addition to the independent Interfax, quoted an unnamed top official in the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service as saying Wednesday the contract had been signed two years ago.
Service spokesman Andrei Tarabrin told The Associated Press he could not immediately comment.
Supplying the S-300s to Iran would markedly change the military balance in the Middle East.
Israel has consistently stated it would do everything possible to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, including a military strike on various nuclear facilities in the country. However, the S-300 anti-aircraft system would make an air strike significantly more difficult.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1237114860330&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

US Blocking Visa for Netanyahu’s Security Advisor

Adar 22, 5769, 18 March 09 01:55
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
 
 
Dr. Arad at NATO-Israel conference Dr. Arad at NATO-Israel conference
 
(IsraelNN.com) United States officials have denied a visa to Dr. Uzi Arad, a security expert who is Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu’s choice to be national security advisor, according to the Washington Times. He is suspected by the Americans of being an intelligence risk, and his attempts to obtain a visa have failed for nearly two years.
Dr. Arad confirmed the report but told The Times, “The director-general of the Israel Foreign Ministry did tell his American counterparts that there has been no cause to deny me a visa.” Lack of a visa would prevent him from visiting American officials on top security issues, making it difficult for him to serve as the Prime Minister-designate’s advisor.
Dr. Arad worked for the Mossad intelligence agency for more than 20 years and advised Netanyahu after he retired in 1997. He has been an opponent to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and also was against the Israeli abandonment of the Gaza region nearly four years ago.
The main problem for American immigration authorities is that Arad was implicitly named by Larry Franklin, a former Pentagon analyst who pleaded guilty in 2005 to providing classified information about Iran to American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) representatives.
  
The indictment against Franklin mentioned “a person previously associated with an intelligence agency of [foreign official's] country,” The Times reported, adding that both Israeli and American officials have confirmed the reference is to Dr. Arad, who met with Franklin in 2004 at the Pentagon cafeteria.
Uriel Reichman, the president of the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, recommended to American officials in 2007 that a visa be granted to Arad. Referring to suspected espionage issues, he wrote that is “absolutely certain to me and to all who know him, that none of the causes specified ... apply to him."
Dr. Arad told Israel National News that the source of the problem is a technicality." A senior aide to Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu told The Times that he expects officials to grant a visa for official matters.
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Shalit Stalemate Signals Possible New Strategy

Adar 21, 5769, 17 March 09 12:15
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) A report by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) from a year ago is being circulated once again, showing that some 65 percent of released Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists return to terrorist activity.
The report indicates that 63 percent of the Hamas terrorists and 67 percent of those from Islamic Jihad who were released in two major terrorist exchanges returned to terrorism upon being freed. The terrorists in question were released in the famous Jibril exchange of 1985 and the exchange for businessman Elchanan Tenenbaum nine years later.
In January 2004, Israel released 436 Palestinian Authority and Muslim terrorists, and the remains of some 60 Lebanese, in exchange for Tenenbaum, an Israeli who was kidnapped over three years earlier while on a dubious business trip to Arab countries, and the return of the remains of three IDF soldiers who had been kidnapped around the same time.  The Jibril deal occurred in May 1985: Israel released no fewer than 1,150 terrorist prisoners, in exchange for three live Israeli prisoners of war captured in two separate incidents in 1982.
Shin Bet Concerned Over Infusion of Active Terrorists
The fact that well over 1,000 terrorists were added to the active ranks following those two deals is of great concern to the Shin bet as the talks for Shalit continue.  “The release of the 1,400 terrorists that Hamas demands [for Shalit], or even a significant portion thereof, will cause great damage to our security, and will lead to a large amount of Israeli casualties within a year and a half,” Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin has said in past closed sessions. “This is true especially if they are released into Judea and Samaria.”
Diskin informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as early as a year ago that any release of terrorists must be accompanied by the unyielding demand that they not be allowed to remain in Judea and Samaria.
Shin Bet Morale at Stake
The above concerns are in addition to the potential blow to the morale of the Shin Bet. “You don’t know what a terrible blow to Shabak (Hebrew acronym for Shin Bet -ed.) morale it will be if this deal goes through,” news correspondent Haggai Huberman was told by an unnamed senior source who is closely connected with the security organization. “The agents go out on dangerous missions to thwart attacks, and they stand to discover suddenly that the terrorists in whose capture and conviction they invested so much effort are once again on the loose.  This could be extraordinarily damaging.”
“Not only that, but these Shabak people will have to deal with the terror attacks that will be renewed once the terrorists get set up in the field again,” the source said.
The fact that Prime Minister Olmert did not give in to all the demands in exchange for Shalit is only small comfort, many in the Shin Bet believe. The fact that he was willing to entertain the release of 1,000 experienced and knowledgeable terrorists, and their injection back into the terrorist ranks, could have been catastrophic, they say.
Talks Were Headed for Dead End
Huberman said that given the above objections, “I predicted a while ago that nothing would come of these talks. There’s no way that Israel can agree to free all those terrorists – especially when Hamas does not even agree that they should be expelled from Judea and Samaria.”
Military Option?
Asked if Israel is now considering a military option to forcibly rescue Shalit, Huberman said, “Not necessarily. Not only are we not sure where Shalit is being held, but we truly don’t even know if he is alive.”
Other Means of Pressure: Crossings, Threats on Leaders, No Visits
Instead, Huberman said, “What has to be done is a combination of other pressure tactics on Hamas: A real, genuine closure on all the crossings into Gaza – not like now, where 150 trucks filled with supplies pass through to Gaza every day!  At the same time, to make this effective, Egypt must be pressured to do a better job on monitoring the smuggling into southern Gaza via the Sinai.  If the world protests that we are causing a humanitarian crisis, we will explain that it is merely temporary, and that we will reopen the crossings the minute Gilad Shalit is freed.”
Huberman has two other oft-mentioned suggestions: “We must announce that we are not allowing any further visits to the terrorists in prison.  Though Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has said that this is illegal, the Cabinet ministers must declare that they do not accept this opinion...  In addition, the leaders of Hamas must be targeted and threatened with death or abduction.  If they know they are not immune, we might find ourselves with Shalit back home faster than we thought.” 
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Phalanx gun may be best defense against Hamas rockets (Philadelphi Corridor?)
[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Could this system provide an umbrella protecting
Israeli forces controlling the Philadelphi Corridor?]
 
WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Israel has spent years prioritizing its
ambitious Iron Dome interceptor program to shoot down very-short-range
rockets that bombard towns and settlements within range of the Hamas
stronghold of Gaza. Yet Iron Dome will not be near deployment until the
middle of next year at the very earliest, if then.
And there are grave questions about using an anti-ballistic missile
interceptor system, each of whose super-fast rockets costs 10 to 50 times as
much as the extremely cheap, low-tech Qassam rockets they are meant to
intercept.
Yet the development of U.S. defense systems against very-short-range missile
attack suggests that when tactical missiles are fired at close range, the
best U.S. weapon to shoot them down may be a good old-fashioned machine gun.
Except there is nothing old-fashioned about Raytheon's Mark 15 Phalanx
Close-In Weapons System, or CIWS: It is already the BMD weapon of last
resort of the U.S. Navy and has been increasingly used by the U.S. Army in
Iraq.
Interest in the Phalanx CIWS stirred in Israel in fall 2006 following the
massive Katyusha rocket mortar bombardment of northern Israel by Hezbollah
in its brief conflict in July that year.
The Katyusha attacks followed an escalating series of less intense and
formidable, but still potentially dangerous, attacks against Israel by
relatively low-tech, very-short-range Qassam missiles fired by Hamas and its
allies from within Gaza, which Israeli forces evacuated in summer 2005.
The Israeli army made a massive three-week incursion into Gaza in January
this year but failed to seriously attempt to topple Hamas, and as soon as
the army left, the rhythm of Qassam bombardments started again.
The Israeli military establishment, spearheaded by Defense Minister Ehud
Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, continues to bet big on
the technologically pioneering Iron Dome concept. The Phalanx, however, has
several striking advantages over Iron Dome.
First, it is already operational and being produced and deployed in
relatively large numbers.
Second, it is the outgrowth of an already mature technology. Super-powerful,
ultra-high-speed machine guns have been a key element of the U.S. armed
forces for decades. The awesome Gatling gun was used to devastating
operational effect in Vietnam.
The radar-guided, rapid-firing Phalanx CIWS is a worthy successor to the
Gatling. Defense Industry Daily noted in a late 2006 report that it can
"fire between 3,000-4,500 20mm rounds per minute, either autonomously or
under manual command, as a last-ditch defense against incoming missiles and
other targets."
"Phalanx uses closed-loop spotting with advanced radar and computer
technology to locate, identify and direct a stream of armor piercing
projectiles to the target," DID said.
Defense Industry Daily noted that two and a half years ago the Phalanx CIWS
was already installed "on approximately 187 U.S. Navy ships and is in use in
20 foreign navies."
Third, the Phalanx CIWS is vastly more flexible than the ambitious and
promising, but still experimental Northrop Grumman Skyguard/Nautilus THEL
laser systems. Whatever their other differences, the U.S. armed forces and
the Israeli Defense Ministry have exhibited a shared reluctance to push
ahead with Skyguard/Nautilus/THEL.
==========

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Israel may accept US demands it not add Israeli electronic warfare to the F-35 jets it buys
[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA
There are several reasons, besides costs, that the U.S. doesn't want Israel
to add its electronic warfare equipment to the jets:
#1 Integration requires sharing more information about the jets with Israel.
#2 Every gizmo that Israel adds to a jet is another gizmo that Israel may
ultimately sell to other countries buying the F-35 and the Americans would
rather sell their own gizmos.
While #1 is an issue involving security, #2 involves money. At the end of
the day, there are more interests in the equation concerned about #2 than
#1.]
----
'Israel may drop bid to incorporate own know-how into F-35 fighter'
By Reuters Last update - 23:24 17/03/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1071849.html
 
Israel is close to dropping an effort to put its own electronic warfare
know-how into Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a
mainstay of its future strike force, a Pentagon official said on Tuesday.
Incorporating Israel's system into the model being built for it "is not
going to happen," said Jon Schreiber, who heads the program's international
aspects.
"I think our system will meet their requirements with some tweaking, and I
think they're starting to come around to that realization themselves," he
told Reuters in an interview.
The issue is sensitive because senior Israeli military officials had
maintained that their aircraft must incorporate electronic warfare
technologies developed by state-controlled Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Ltd.
An Israeli embassy spokesman referred a caller to the Defense Ministry,
which could not be immediately reached for comment.
Dropping plans for incorporating sensitive Israeli technology onto the F-35
would be a significant departure for Israel. Israeli F-15s and F-16s were
modified to carry Israeli electronic warfare, radars, munitions and command
and control systems.
Israel is set to become a kind of trailblazer for the F-35, which is being
developed by the United States and eight international partners: Britain,
Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.
Israel has gone further than any non-consortium member toward acquisition,
with plans to buy an initial 25 F-35A's in fiscal 2012 for delivery starting
in 2014 and an option for 50 more.
The F-35 is a radar-evading, single-engine aircraft, designed to switch
quickly between air-to-ground and air-to-air missions while still flying.
The models built for Israel would incorporate Israeli-made data links,
radios and other command and control equipment, but not the electronic
warfare suite, largely because of the high cost of integrating it, Schreiber
said.
"They have pretty tight budget constraints and we're attempting to fit their
requirements into their budget," he said. Officials from the Pentagon's F-35
joint program office met Israeli procurement officials in New York on Monday
to discuss the program, Schreiber added without elaborating on their talks.
"We expect to get a revised letter of request from (Israel) within the next
month or so," and anticipate that a government-to-government deal will be
concluded by the end of this year or early next year, he said.
U.S. instructor pilots would join Israeli pilots to train at Eglin Air Force
Base, Florida, on four of the aircraft built for Israel, Schreiber said. By
early 2015, the U.S. instructors would transition to Israel to continue
training pilots there.
Singapore, the other non-consortium member linked to the program through a
special status, appears likely to start buying as many as 100 F-35s a year
or two after Israel, Schreiber said.
He expected an agreement to be signed with Singapore within the next month
detailing security safeguards for program information as a prelude to "more
serious discussions" about acquiring the F-35.
"At this point, we don't have any indication from Singapore that they want
to put anything unique in the airplane," he said. "They want to go with a
plain vanilla airplane."
F-35 competitors include Saab AB's Gripen, the Dassault Aviation SA Rafale,
Russia's MiG-35 and Sukhoi Su-35, and the Eurofighter Typhoon made by a
consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish companies.
Lockheed's chief F-35 subcontractors are Northrop Grumman Corp and BAE
Systems Plc. Two rival, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development.
One is built by United Technologies Corp's Pratt i Whitney unit; the other
by a team of General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc.

Posted by Britannia Radio at 17:04