Thoughts on the Situation, Part 2 -- Israel's New Strategic Weapon May Be Related to Iran

The Israeli Air Force unveiled its new aircraft, the Eitan, last week. It's an unmanned vehicle with the wingspan of a 737 aircraft, the ability to stay in the air as long as 20 hours, a relatively heavy payload, and a range of 1000 kilometers. Various publications point out that Iran is within range.

OK, why would Israel need such a large and long range UAV? Surveillance for sure, but ostensibly, Israel also has spy satellites for that purpose.

Let's go back a few years to remember a defense concept that was floating around -- "Boost Phase Intercept," an idea to shoot down an enemy missile while it is taking off. The lift-off is relatively slow and if the missile with its conventional, nuclear or chemical warhead can be destroyed, it would fall on the enemy's territory. Another variation suggested a boost phase launcher intercept, that is to destroy the launcher after the missile launch. The concepts kind of took a back seat with the development of the Arrow anti-missile missile, a sophisticated weapon that shoots down enemy missiles in mid-flight.

So now along comes the Eitan, with its 40,000+ feet ceiling, airborne early warning capability, probably the ability to carry a weapons payload, long endurance and long range (and probably a refueling capability). What do you have? I expect Iranian planners are wondering whether Israel has developed its boost phase intercept capability to go along with the Arrow.

Here's an eight-year old article that describes the boost phase intercept concept and details Israel's MOAB project -- the Missile Optimised Anti-Ballistic Missile System -- published by the Center for Defense Information.

Maybe the Iranians should look at it, as well.

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