'No radar like this in the world': Israel to answer rocket strikes within 30 seconds
Thursday, December 11, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
TEL AVIV — The Israel Army will deploy a new radar that it claims can rapidly locate short-range missile, mortar and rocket launch sites for destruction.
"There is no radar like this in the world," Brig. Gen. Michel Ben-Baruch told The Jerusalem Post. "It can pinpoint the location of the launch and then find the range the cannons will need to aim at to fire."
Officials said the army's Artillery Corps has received the first radars designed to identify missile and rocket fire within seconds. They said the radar, produced by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, would begin operations by March 2009.
"The radar will allow air and artillery strikes against missile-launch squads within 30 seconds," a military source said.
Ben-Baruch said the unidentified radar, developed by IAI subsidiary Elta Systems, would provide 360-degree surveillance. Baruch said this would enable the radar to detect Hamas or Hizbullah short-range missile and rocket fire and relay the information to a military command and control center.
The radar was disclosed by the military days before the formal ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was scheduled to expire on Dec. 19. On Dec. 10, the military relayed options to the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for an Israeli response to the escalation in Hamas missile and rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the government approved the transfer of $25 million to the Hamas regime.
"The Israel Defense Forces has to act." Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said. "As for the extent of the operation, we have to choose from the options presented to us."
For his part, Ben-Baruch said the new radar, expected to replace the U.S.-origin TPQ-37, was ordered in wake of the Israeli war with Hizbullah in 2006. The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah fired 4,500 rockets into Israel during the 34-day war.
Officials said the radar would enable the Artillery Corps to participate in the war against the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. Artillery units have been prevented from firing into the Gaza Strip out of concern that they would accidentally strike civilian targets.
Under the army plan, artillery units would be part of a command and control system that could be called upon to respond to Hamas or Hizbullah fire. Officials said the units would be linked to a network designed to rapidly detect and locate missile and rocket fire.
"The C2 network would allow commanders to make decisions on whether a counter-strike should come from the air, ground or artillery," the military source said.