? Devo: Beautiful World | Main | Marilyn Manson: Tourniquet ?
July 10, 2008
Noise and escalation
Israel, Iran and the Eitan high altitude UAV, notably absent from a recent exercise over the Aegean.
However, if the IAF intended to use the Eitan as part of a strike package for Iran, it certainly could accelerate its operational debut, as the service did with its Gulfstream Nachshon aerial-warning aircraft during the 2006 Lebanon War and with an electronic-warfare version of that aircraft in last year's attack on Syria.
Built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Eitan - or Heron TP - will carry more than a ton of weapons as well as specialized sensors, electronic warfare and targeting gear in its bulbous forward section, its principal payload bay and on each tail of its twin boom.
"UAVs are an integral part of the IAF force structure, and they've become a dominant element in training and operations planning," said Herzl Bodinger, a retired major general and former IAF commander. "But we're still not at a point where enough of them can carry 1-ton weapons for the long-range missions everybody seems to be talking too much about these days."
Built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Eitan - or Heron TP - will carry more than a ton of weapons as well as specialized sensors, electronic warfare and targeting gear in its bulbous forward section, its principal payload bay and on each tail of its twin boom.
"UAVs are an integral part of the IAF force structure, and they've become a dominant element in training and operations planning," said Herzl Bodinger, a retired major general and former IAF commander. "But we're still not at a point where enough of them can carry 1-ton weapons for the long-range missions everybody seems to be talking too much about these days."
Watch this space.
Related: The 5th Fleet tests the communications network supporting its Aegis ballistic missile defense system across the Middle East.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at July 10, 2008 06:47 AM
