WarSclerotic

IDF sets up Magic Wand Unit – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Air Force lays groundwork for new operational unit that will protect central Israel against medium, long-range missiles aimed at country’s ‘soft belly’

Yoav Zitun

The IDF is perparing to establish a new unit that will address missile threats on densely populated areas in central Israel.

After the deployment of the Iron Dome missile defense system, which has provided southern Israel with limited yet efficient protection from Qassam and Grad missiles, the defense establishment is forging ahead with developing the Magic Wand system, designed to thwart mid and long-rage missiles.The Iron Dome and Magic Wand are two of the three systems Israel is developing and deploying as part of its multilayered missile and rocket defense apparatus. A third system – “Arrow 3” – is designed to thwart ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere, which carry nuclear heads.

Over the past few weeks, the Air Force has completed laying the groundwork for the Magic Wand Unit, which will operate the new missile defense system.

An official with the IAF noted that the unit’s personnel were already working alongside the defense industries, which are developing the system, in order to ensure its compatibility with the operational needs on the ground.

Magic Wand will be able to operate under all weather conditions, and its own intercepting missiles will be capable of changing course in mid-flight. The system is mostly designed against long-range missiles fired from Gaza and Lebanon.

Like the Iron Dome defense system, Magic Wand will also be deployed according to operational needs and Israel’s current threats.

The information about the launching of a missile from enemy territory will be delivered to the Magic Wand system from the ballistic imaging center, which can detect the launching of projectiles toward Israel from all fronts, and determine which defense system should be activated.

Defend Israel’s ‘soft belly’

According to defense establishment assessments, Hamas and Hezbollah already possess medium-range missiles, which can reach Israel’s “soft belly” and can potentially be intercepted by the Magic Wand system. Defense officials are not ruling out the possibility that these missiles could be used against Israel should another conflict erupt.

  The Magic Wand system will also be able to intercept long-range missiles, including the Iranian Shahab, if it is not intercepted in space beforehand.

The price for a single Magic Wand projectile can reach up to $1 million, but the defense establishment stressed that the cost in damages created by a missile that could be intercepted by the system, is greater.

Since the deployment of Iron Dome, the IDF has reported a sharp increase in demand for operational positions relating to the defense system, and is estimating that the Magic Wand will also become especially popular among new recruits.

J’lem sends aid as Ankara calls f… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

(Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues, and you know it don’t come easy… – JW)

    The first of several expected civilian planes full of Israeli earthquake relief set off for Turkey on Wednesday, even as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu kept up his tough rhetoric against Israel.

The 747 plane chartered by the Defense Ministry carried seven prefabricated homes that have all the necessary electric wiring and can be lived in immediately by people who lost their homes in Sunday’s earthquake that devastated the eastern province of Van and killed more than 460 people. The plane, which will land in Ankara, is also carrying warm clothes, blankets and mattresses.

A Defense Ministry official said that one, and possibly two more planes will be sent on Thursday. The official said the ministry chartered a civilian plane not because of a Turkish ban on IDF planes flying over Turkey, but rather because the 747 could carry more than an IDF transport plane.

But even as the plane was being loaded, Davutoglu – on a visit to Jordan – called for forceful pressure on Israel, saying that only such pressure would force Jerusalem into giving up on a number of principles and making it easier to establish a Palestinian state.

“We believe that if we will press hard enough on Israel, we will bring it to a situation where it will be convinced that it needs to carry out its part of moving the diplomatic process forward and establishing a Palestinian state,” Israel Radio translated and quoted Davutoglu as saying.

His words, meanwhile, did not surprise officials in Jerusalem who had low expectations that the humanitarian aid would significantly improve the badly strained relationship with Ankara.

Josh Hantman, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said the aid was “not a diplomatic matter, but a humanitarian one aimed at keeping men, women and children safe and warm.”

Another government official said the shipment represented “good neighborly relations. I don’t want to raise expectations. The Turks helped us battle the Carmel forest fire [in December], and while that was greatly appreciated, it didn’t improve the ties. We want to be realistic. This is about neighbors helping neighbors.”

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report October 26, 2011, 2:52 PM (GMT+02:00

The Russian Aztobaza-ELINT radar jammer

Moscow has sold Iran the highly-advanced Avtobaza truck-mounted systems which are capable of jamming aircraft radar and the electronic guidance instruments of attacking missiles. This deal, announced in Moscow Tuesday, Oct. 25, substantially boosts Russian military assistance to the Islamic Republic.

debkafile’s military sources: These radar jammers are a component of Russia’s most sophisticated anti-aircraft and electronic warfare system for the early warning of approaching assault planes and missiles.
Avtobaza is only part of the complete system. Its job is to transmit incoming information via optic fibers to separate electronic command centers and central air defense commands which then act to foil air or missile attacks.

Arguing that the weapon is purely defensive, Moscow claimed its sale to Iran does not violate the UN Security Council weapons embargo against Iran.

However, the US and Israel are reported to suspect a Russian stratagem whereby the Avotbaza jammers are only the first part of the deal, to be followed by the delivery to Iran of the full ELINT-electronic signals intelligence system. The full system would enable Iran to identity and react to any aerial or missile movements – not only over its territory but in the skies of the entire Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.
debkafile’s military sources describe the Avrobaza system as able to simultaneously detect and electronically jam 60 targets within a 150-kilometer radius at angles ranging 360 degrees on 20 minutes notice.

Western suspicions were alerted by the way the Russians announced the transaction.

It was made by Konstantin Biryulin, head of a department in the Russian Defense Ministry, a departure from the usual practice of announcing these transactions through spokesmen of Russia arms export industry agencies outside the government ministry.

debkafile’s sources in Moscow take this to mean that the Kremlin will henceforth treat arms sales to Iran as a strategic matter for senior security echelons to handle. They expect such deals with Syria to be upgraded in the same way.

In his statement, Biryulin stressed, “Russia has sent a set of mobile radar jammers to Iran and is negotiating future deliveries.”  He did not say how many jammers were in the contract or what other weapons were under negotiation with Tehran.

American and Israeli notice was also piqued by another of Biryulin’s remarks:
“We are not talking about jets, submarines or even S-300 (missile) systems,” he said. “We are talking about providing security for the Iranian state.”

Our Moscow sources take this also as the Kremlin’s notice that this time it will not surrender to US and Israeli pressure for calling off the Avtobaza deal in the same way as it revoked its contract with Iran for supplying S-300 missiles. From now on, Russia is undertaking responsibility for providing Iran with the defensive hardware it needs for its national security.

Implied in this undertaking is another message: Russia will not stand for American or any other Western attacks on Iran or Syria like the NATO operation which overthrew Muammar Qaddafi in Libya.

France FM: Fall of Assad government in Syria ‘unavoidable’ – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe says pressure of protests and sanctions will eventually oust Bashar Assad from power but process will take time due to complexity of internal and regional politics.

By Reuters

The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad will almost certainly fall under the pressure of protests and sanctions, but it will take time due to the complexity of internal and regional politics, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday.

With a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Syria now seven months old, Western powers including France are relying on a combination of sanctions and diplomatic pressure to weaken Assad’s hold on power.

	Syrian President Bashar Assad, June 2011.
	Photo by: AP

The European Union widened sanctions against Assad and the Syrian state after China and Russia blocked an attempt by Western powers to bring about a UN Security Council resolution condemning violence against protesters.

“It’s true that in New York (at the United Nations) we were blocked, and that is a stain on the Security Council, which said almost nothing about this barbaric repression,” Juppe said on France Inter radio.

“This will end with the fall of the regime, it is nearly unavoidable, but unfortunately it could take time because the situation is complex, because there is a risk of civil war between Syrian factions, because surrounding Arab countries do not want us to intervene.”

Assad, who says his government is serious about political reform, will meet an Arab League committee in Damascus on Wednesday. The six-nation committee includes Algeria, Oman, Sudan and Yemen — countries seen as sympathetic to Syria.

Juppe said that while most Arab nations opposed action against Syria, Turkey was moving closer to the Western position and had begun to exert pressure on the Syrian government to stop the crackdown.

After months of clashes between protesters and security forces, which have killed 3,000 people, according to a UN estimate, Syrian army deserters have formed the beginnings of an armed insurgency against the state.

Opposition abroad to the Syrian government has begun to coalesce under the Syrian National Transition Council. France has stopped short of recognizing the body, but signalled its support earlier this month when Juppe shook hands with its leader in Paris.

Israel may lose German sub deal – Israel News, Ynetnews.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s frustration over new east Jerusalem housing plans may jeopardize Israel’s chances of getting new Dolphin class submarine

Shimon Shiffer

Germany is “reconsidering” its decision to sell Israel a sixth Dolphin class submarine, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the move was prompted by the tensions between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Merkel’s frustration over the new housing plans approved in east Jerusalem.

Top political sources said that Merkel was irked with Netanyahu, who “gave her the impression that he would be willing to suspend settlement expansion in order to push the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.”

Israel’s recent approval of 1,100 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem led Merkel to announce that Netanyahu “cannot be taken seriously and has no intention of complying with the basic terms needed to renew the negotiations with the Palestinian.”

Merkel and Netanyahu shared strident words following the decisions, and relations between Jerusalem and Berlin have been strained since.

Disconcerting trend

Defense officials expressed concern over Berlin’s intention to suspend and possibly cancel the submarine sale: According to foreign media reports, the new Dolphin was slated to join Israel strategic fleet.

Earlier in 2011, Germany announced that it would grant Israel a €135 million aid package to build its sixth submarine. German funding has been a significant part in the creation of the Israeli Navy’s submarine crops.

The Navy currently has three Dolphin class submarines, and is expected to receive two new ones, currently under construction in Germany. According to foreign media sources, the new submarines will be equipped to carry nuclear warheads.

The deal was originally approved by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, despite initial concerns that such ballistic capabilities may upset the nuclear balance in the region.

Senior defense officials refused to comment directly, saying only that “The subject of the sixth submarine is currently being negotiation between the (Israeli and German) governments. It is inappropriate to hash the matter out in the media.”

The Prime Minister’s Office was unavailable for comment.