Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — The Israel Air Force has been lauding an advanced air
munition produced by a financially-troubled company.

The Air Force has deemed the Delilah cruise missile as superior to
others produced in the West. Delilah, developed and manufactured by the
state-owned Israel Military Industries, was described as a “perfect”
stand-off weapon.

“Honestly, it’s the most amazing weapon in the [Israel] Air Force
today,” 1st Lt. A, a navigator aboard the F-16D, said.

Delilah was developed in the 1980s and employed by the Israel Air Force since 1994. The platform began as an unmanned aerial vehicle meant for launch from a combat aircraft and served as a decoy for air defense batteries.

For years, Israel refused to acknowledge Delilah, rather unveiled a
similar decoy called Samson, later sold to the U.S. Navy. Eventually, IMI, in cooperation with the Israel Air Force, converted Delilah into a cruise missile meant to destroy air defense batteries and other ground targets.

“Behind the scenes, far from the eyes of the media, the Delilah became one of the most advanced and sophisticated weapons systems developed in
Israel,” the Air Force said in a report. “Today, we can reveal that the
Delilah was never truly intended to serve simply as a decoy. Delilah is
one of the most important weapons in the IDF’s arsenal.”

Delilah, which weighs 187 kilograms, was said to have a range of more
than 250 kilometers. The stand-off weapon, which measures 2.71 meters and a
wing span of 1.15 meters, was designed to resemble a combat aircraft.

Air Force officers and industry sources said Delilah remains a cruise
missile with capabilities that exceed Western rivals. They cited the Joint
Stand-Off Weapon-Extended Range air-to-ground missile by Raytheon, Lockheed
Martin’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and MBDA’s Storm Shadow.

“[Delilah is] an advanced cruise missile whose capabilities and
performance may well be unmatched by any other weapons system,” the air
force said.

A key challenge for Delilah, a concept developed in the Air Force, was
how to detect and track the radar emissions of enemy surface-to-missile
batteries. The Air Force said Delilah was equipped with an onboard camera
for remote navigation and precision targeting.

Delilah’s speciality was its capability to loiter over targets and
respond to instructions from combat pilots. Unlike other missiles, Delilah
could be directed by the navigator of an F-16 or another aircraft even
during the missile’s final approach. At the last moment, the mission could
be aborted and Delilah would resume loitering.

The air force said IMI has developed several generations of Delilah that
were significantly different from each other. The missile has been installed
on almost every Israeli fighter-jet, including the latest F-16I.

“Delilah lets us strike at the brain of the enemy, even if it’s a small
mobile target like a command armored personnel carrier,” former IMI
president Arieh Mizrachi said. “Similarly, we can
strike at a ship’s command center without needing to sink the whole ship.
This holds true for many other kinds of target like airports, logistics
centers and so on. The moment we identify the critical point, the Delilah
lets us hit it.”

  capabilities exceed Western rivals, Delilah cruise missile ‘unmatched by any other weapons system’, Israel Air Force, Israel Military Industries, range of 250 kilometers