Arie Egozi: March 2013 Archives

You need precise weapon systems when collateral damage may mean the difference between a local incident and a war.

This was the case last week on the Israeli-Syrian border. The Syrian army or rebel forces fired on an Israeli patrol. In response, a Rafael Spike missile was launched and the shooters were killed. This kept the incident in a local context.

On borders such accurate weapons are a critical tool.

Rafael developed the Spike family of missiles for a variety of missions.

The first member of the family was unveiled in 1990. At first, the Spike was dubbed an antiarmour missile, but soon it gained the more adequate label of a multipurpose weapon. It is now considered one of, if not the most versatile missile in its category.

The Spike family includes: the SR, with a range of 800m (2,625ft); the MR (Gill) (2.5km), the LR (4km); the ER (formerly known as the NTD) (8km); and the NLOS (25km).

‪The NLOS can be deployed on many types of helicopters. Its‬ weight,‪ 70kg‬ (154lb),‪ is a‬ ‪limiting factor‬,‪ but according to ‬a‪ source‬,‪ an Apache can carry ‬eight‪ NLO‬Ss, ‪while the Tiger can carry ‬four‪ or more‬.

Rafael will not discuss any future versions, but says the Spike family has built-in growth potential.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has not disclosed what version was used on the Syrian border, but it is not relevant. The ease of use and, more importantly, the ability to launch from many platforms, make these missiles a weapon that, on one hand, are deadly and, on the other, hit only what you intend to hit.

There is not going to be any sort of honeymoon.

Mutual interests, pressure from President Barack Obama and other "background" factors broke the ice, but the water is very cold.

The restoration of full diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel will not immediately lead to a renewal of negotiations about new contracts with the Israeli aerospace industry, say Israeli sources.

"If we see some continued talks about potential contracts that were discussed in the past, or new ones, this will be after the defence ties adjust to the new reality in Turkey," an Israeli source says. 

He referred mainly to the changes that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made to the country's armed forces. 

The decision to restore relations followed an apology by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the navy's operation against a Gaza-bound international flotilla almost three years ago.

The apology is explained by pressure put on Netanyahu by Obama during his visit to Israel last week and the situation in Syria.

He announced the breakthrough after a 20-minute phone conversation with Erdogan.

The flotilla attack ended the diversified defence ties between the two countries.

One of the results was that in November 2011 the Israeli ministry of defence cancelled a deal to supply optical and radar imagery intelligence systems to the Turkish airforce. The systems were supposed to be carried by F-16s.

The $141 million contract was signed in 2009 and was won jointly by Elbit Systems Electro-Optics (Elop), which developed the long-range oblique photography (Lorops) system and by the Elta division of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which developed the SAR radar system.


Both Israeli companies were acting as subcontractors to Turkish company Aselsan.

In December 2011 the ministry notified the two Israeli companies that their export permits were cancelled.

When defence ties were cut, potential deals between Turkey and Israel's aerospace industry amounted to more than $1 billion.

There is, of course, some hope that Turkey will again want some Israeli systems, but it is clear, even to the more optimistic, that the if and the when are very unclear.

More and more VIP transports are being equipped with protection from shoulder-launched missiles. 

Today, 95% of the potential threats to civil and military aircraft are from these deadly hand-held weapons, which are easy to use and obtain. 

In the 1990s the threat was 50% from radar-directed weapons and the rest from shoulder-launched.

Given this changing scenario, you would expect that more aircraft in civil use would be provided with the available protection. But Israeli sources say that because of the state of the airline business, only state funding would change the picture. "Airlines will not even consider equipping their fleets with these protective systems," says an Israeli source.

The Israeli government has decided to equip Israeli passenger aircraft with the system that has been developed by Elbit Systems.

The performance of this programme is now classified, but sources say it is "on schedule".

The Elbit Systems Commercial Multi-Spectral Infrared Countermeasure (C-MUSIC) system performed a series of successful flight tests on board a Boeing 707 aircraft.

According to the company, the system, designated to protect large jet aircraft against shoulder-launched missiles, successfully performed all the necessary functions. 

Airforces that face many simultaneous missions have an operational demand for a lot of real-time information, of various types.

The solution is not simple, for the sender of the information and the receiver. But now it seems a solution is right around the corner.

An airborne datalink system will soon enable the Israeli air force to transmit and receive real-time video, data and audio simultaneously, using a small, lightweight radio.

The system is in its final development stages and was recently demonstrated to some foreign airforces. Rafael, which is developing the system, says there is much potential for exports. 

The company says its airborne datalink system can accurately process and distribute real-time information to all airborne and ground units.

 

By providing communication links, networks and applications, the system provides a virtual circuit and datagram services that guarantee reliable, simultaneous, multichannel voice, data, imagery and video transmissions.

Airborne datalinks are based on two types of system - datalink radio and voice and datalink radio, depending on the communications services and the requirements of data, video and imagery applications.

 

A Rafael programme source said on March 19 that the system enables full connectivity between all airborne and ground platforms, taking mission critical decisions in real time.

The source said the company had used advanced software and many off-the-shelf technologies to solve a "critical problem" of advanced airforces that use many types of manned aerial platforms in parallel to various unmanned air systems. Information has to be shared between them and "clients" on the ground in real time with a minimum of delay in voice transmissions.

While the Israeli air force (IAF) is bolstering its capability to intercept ballistic missiles using the Arrow system, it is also preparing for more conventional air threats.

An advanced training centre intended for the users of "Patriot" surface-to-air units has been set up at the Aerial Defense Academy in southern Israel.

The simulator will offer a large range of training scenarios to Patriot-trained soldiers who have been practicing in the USA.

"With this new addition we have upgraded our training methods. In fact, the entire Patriot instruction technique has been reformed with the help of the simulator," says Capt Matan Shalom, head of the Patriot unit for the instruction division at Aerial Defense Headquarters.

"With this new acquisition, we can reconstruct and debrief simulations in a much more profound way," the officer told the IAF magazine.

The new simulator includes ten consoles to simulate the stations in the control unit of the Patriot system.

The simulator also features instructional stations that can control the various scenarios to be projected on the screens.

During simulations soldiers must spot enemy targets, react quickly and operate against hostile aircraft that enter Israeli air space.

"In the future, the simulator will allow us more points of intersection with other training systems across the force, such as flight simulators," says Lt Col Gershon Zlutnik, head of the instructional division at the Aerial Defense Academy.

"The connection will allow cooperation with other formations in the force. There may be a time where a pilot and a Patriot controller will have to cooperate," he says.

On summer days temperatures inside Israeli air force (IAF) BlackHawk helicopters can be unbearable.

The air-conditioning unit is often useless, and the pilots have to operate under very difficult conditions. It was clear that a solution is needed - and as soon as possible.

In recent years a number of proposed solutions were evaluated, but all were insufficient to solve this "hot" issue. But now it seems the right answer has been found.

The air-conditioning system used in the US Navy's version of the Sikorsky UH-60 BlackHawk helicopter has solved the problem of high temperatures in the cockpit of those used by the IAF.

The IAF tried to solve the temperature problem in different ways, but failed. Temperatures in summer reached 50°C, and this caused problems and limited some operations.

In a recent test, the air-conditioning system used in the US Navy's SH-60 SeaHawk was installed in one of the IAF's UH-60 "Yanshuf" helicopters, and the results were excellent.

"The system produced a very cold air stream, and the pilots at times asked to shut it down," Capt Daniel - the project officer - told the IAF magazine.

The successful test will soon result in the replacement of the air-conditioning units in all the IAF's UH-60s.

These helicopters are frequently operated in the Israeli desert, where outside ground temperatures in summer reach 40°C.

Two factors - the growing use of unmanned air systems (UAS) and the increased efficiency of the sensors designed to detect and shoot them down - are forcing manufacturers to make them more survivable.

Defensive systems that have until recently been used to protect manned air platforms are found on more and more UAS these days.

For example, the Russians have embarked on an effort to develop radar systems that will be capable of detecting even small UAS.

This effort, Israeli sources say, will not stop on the Russian border - and that calls for making both current UAS and future types more difficult to detect.

No specific details on such an effort are available, but it seems that big UAS will carry more electronic countermeasures in the future.

Another option is to operate "swarms" of small UAS, so that a few will be capable of penetrating the defended area.

"The proliferation of UAS in the world and the increasing variety of missions they perform has brought an effort to handle the threat as if it is a manned aerial platform," one source said.

So what can we expect in the future? An effort to give UAS at least some stealthy features and greater manoeuvrability.

UAS are now more often copies of bigger manned types - and this is the real change in the aerial fighting arena.

As this effort continues the appetite of the users grow - and this no doubt will result in UAS with more capabilities. Surprises await around the corner.

Investigators will consider the age of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) Cobra helicopter that crashed earlier this week.

The investigation started minutes after the debris of the Cobra and the bodies of its two pilots were found early on Tuesday.

The probe will probably find the exact reason for the sudden malfunction that left no time for the two very experienced reserve pilots to send a distress signal.

The age of the Cobra, which has been flying in the IAF since the mid-1970s, has to be a consideration.

The IAF has top maintenance crews and the safety procedures are a "bible". But investigators will surely bear in mind the age of the helicopter and the intensive manner in which it has been operated by the force during the many years of service, either for combat or for training.

There have been four other Cobra helicopter crashes in the past, resulting in the deaths of four pilots.

Every accident has been investigated and the causes are in the final reports. But after so many years in service, the age of the Cobra forms a backdrop to every investigation. This in spite of all the upgrades, modifications and improvements.

You see them in great numbers at every Israeli air force (IAF) base - female technicians preparing fighter aircraft for missions around the clock.

Young women in dark blue coveralls have become part of the scenery in the reinforced surface shelters housing ready-for-action F-15s, F-16s, Apache helicopters and other types.

They are professionals that after one year in service are trained to release an advanced fighter for a mission - whether for training or a real one - and these in the IAF are almost a daily routine.

This has resulted in the adaption of many tools used in maintenance work for the users - young woman in compulsory service with an average age of 19.

The IAF magazine reveals that a special project has so far resulted in specially designed "female versions" of tools - a lighter aluminium ladder, a special wheeled surface that helps carry heavy fuel pipes and even lighter torches.

The magazine says the adaptation of the tools has been welcomed among the female technicians. They love the lighter tools, which make the long hours on the tarmac, in the hangars or at the surface shelters easier.

Compulsory military service brings many women into all the units of the Israeli defence forces. 

You find them in the infantry, armoured units, the navy and in the air force, where they fill many positions, from radar and electronic systems operators, through to line technicians and even aircrews in fighting squadrons.

The new tools are only a "luxury" - the work still gets done with the old ones and under all conditions.

Credit : IAF magazine