TEL AVIV — The Israel Air Force has concluded the first exercises to
defend against a potential Palestinian surface-to-air missile threat.
Military sources said the air force has held exercises for combat pilots
to avoid being targeted by the Soviet-origin SA-7 shoulder-fired
anti-aircraft missile. The sources said the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority
has acquired at least 10 SA-7 systems.
"There have been firings of anti-aircraft weapons in Gaza," a military
source said. "What kind of weapons were not known."
The air force has been developing a model of the SA-7 for the exercises, Middle East Newsline reported.
The sources said the dummy SA-7 would replace the use of flares used to
replicate anti-aircraft weapons.
"The new dummy missile would replace the flares, which have simulated
shoulder-fired missiles, and would enable much more efficient training,"
Maj. A., head of the enemy simulation unit at the air force, told the Israel
Air Force Journal.
The Israeli officer said the air force would deploy an actual SA-7
without a warhead. The area that contains the warhead would be replaced by
an advanced debriefing unit.
"It would all operate just like a real launch of the SA-7," the major,
who could not be further identified, said. "The pilots would train to cope
with the threat in a more realistic manner than in the past."
Israel's Elbit Systems has developed a missile defense system for the
air force's transport fleet. Elbit's El-Op subsidiary and the Defense
Ministry's Research and Development Directorate have cooperated in
developing a laser that could divert any heat-seeking missile, including the
SA-7.
Officers said the missile warning and counter-measures system would be
installed on both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. They said the system
would undergo trials in 2006.