Jerusalem Post: Syria and Iran Smuggling Long-Range Missiles to Hezbollah
December 3, 2006 :: Jerusalem Post :: News
Syria and Iran have smuggled “truckloads” of long-range missiles into Lebanon over the past four months, reports Yaakov Katz in The Jerusalem Post. During the Lebanon war from July to August 2006, the Israeli Defense Force destroyed most of Hezbollah’s long-range missile arsenal, including the Iranian-made Fajr and Zelzal missiles. But according to Israeli military intelligence, Hezbollah has since received weapon convoys carrying long-range missiles, as well as short-range and anti-tank missiles. Hezbollah has stored these weapons in its extensive system of underground tunnels and bunkers in southern Lebanon, despite the presence of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces south of the Litani River. According to The Jerusalem Post, Israeli military intelligence believes that “sooner or later” Hezbollah will resume military operations against Israel in the form of rocket and mortar attacks. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: Zelzal-1/2/3
Freedman on the Future of British Deterrence
December 1, 2006 :: Financial Times :: Analysis
Nuclear deterrence should continue to play a role in Britain’s international affairs, argues Sir Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies and vice principal (research) at King’s College, London. “What is it about our current strategic environment that suggests that this is the time to abandon the deterrent?” Freedman asks in the Financial Times. “The obvious answer is ‘very little.’” He notes that Russia is in a “bad temper,” North Korea has demonstrated its nuclear capability, and Iran appears on the verge of acquiring its own. Despite the problem of how a full-blown British nuclear capability will deter suicidal sub-state organizations like Al-Qaeda, nuclear weapons continue to “make clear the horrific consequences of full-scale war or even a big miscalculation and so encourage states to resolve disputes without resort to armed force.” Freedman cites the case of India and Pakistan, in which the introduction of nuclear weapons into the conflict introduced a welcome element of caution. He notes, however, that some conflicts “may become so unstable that mutual deterrence will collapse and catastrophe will ensue, which is why proliferation is not to be encouraged.” Freedman, nevertheless, appears to agree with the British government’s position that “however difficult it is to imagine a plausible scenario where it would be necessary to threaten, let alone use, nuclear weapons, the future is horribly uncertain.” Nuclear weapons therefore remain “an essential insurance policy.” (Link)
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Israel Prioritizes Anti-Katyusha Defense Efforts
September 27, 2006 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
Israel has made anti-Katyusha missile defense a top priority following Hezbollah’s rocket blitz on the country’s northern cities in recent months, reports the November issue of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets. On August 19, Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the defense establishment to begin developing an anti-missile system. With Iran and Syria replenishing Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal, Israeli requires a system that can be deployed quickly and presumably with U.S. funding. Peretz has appointed a panel to determine within several months the feasibility of a new laser system known as Skyguard, developed by Northrop Grumman since 2004; as well as other potential systems such as a land-based version of Raytheon’s Phalanx rapid-fire gun system, which would lock onto incoming rockets or mortar rounds and engage them with 20 mm cannon fire.
Jane’s reports, however, that Israel is at odds with the U.S. Army, which has paid the lion’s share of the costs for developing laser-based defense systems over the last decade. In early 2004, the Army shelved a project known as the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL), developed jointly with Israel, because it was too cumbersome and costly and suffered from technical problems. In addition, the U.S. Army has shown little interest in the Skyguard systems, as it prefers a fully mobile system that can stand up to the rigors of combat in the field. The U.S. is also focusing on solid-state high-energy systems, which run on electrical power rather than the chemicals required for MTHEL variants. Yet working prototypes for such systems are not expected to be ready for another four to five years, a timeframe that does not meet Israel’s requirements. (Link)
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Carafano: U.S. Should Help Israel Deploy Directed-Energy Defenses
September 23, 2006 :: The Heritage Foundation :: Analysis
The U.S. should help Israel deploy anti-rocket defense using available, proven, directed-energy technologies in less than two years, argues James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. He notes that the two nations have already jointly developed a short-range laser system, the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL), but chose not to deploy it. Instead, the Pentagon decided to invest its resources in more advanced directed-energy research that would lead to more mobile systems that could be quickly shifted around the battlefield. Yet prototypes for these new systems will not be available until at least 2013, during which Hezbollah could rearm and instigate another war a half-dozen times. “Congress has an opportunity to jump-start the process by including the necessary funding in the annual defense appropriations bill, but so far, it has let the opportunity pass,” writes Carafano. “The Pentagon doesn’t want the proven directed-energy defenses—an attitude that clearly proves the old adage that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Waiting for futuristic technology won’t help deter war in the Middle East, but deploying a directed-energy defense now will take the threat of rocket wars off the table.” In addition to defending all of Israel’s borders, these systems could be used by the U.S. to defend against short-range missile attacks on commercial aircraft or protect critical infrastructure like nuclear power plants. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
China: Hezbollah Missile Link “Impossible”
August 23, 2006 :: AFP :: News
Chinese regulations make it “impossible” for a missile China sold to Iran to be passed on to Lebanon’s Hezbollah forces, a senior Chinese diplomat claimed yesterday. Sun Bigan, China’s special envoy to the Middle East, told reporters that China has never exported arms to Hezbollah, including the radar guided C-802 (CSS-N-8) anti-ship cruise missile that Hezbollah fired at an Israeli warship on July 14. “I think the information or the news is not accurate about the use of Chinese weapons in the Lebanon-Israel battlefield,” Sun said. “I have taken note of these reports. The information itself is groundless.” Sun, however, did not rule out the possibility that these weapons may have been transferred to Hezbollah by a third party. “China does have some normal arms trade with some countries, however, the arms trade is with sovereign states. China does not provide weapons to any organizations, groups, or [political] parties.” He added that if Chinese weapons had in fact been transferred to another entity, China would be “very concerned,” but as far as he knew Beijing had not launched an investigation into the matter. (Article, Link)
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Israel Examines Skyguard to Counter Hezbollah Rockets
August 15, 2006 :: Reuters :: News
Israel’s defense ministry recently asked the Pentagon for information about Skyguard, a next-generation chemical laser system for intercepting short-range Katyusha and Kassam rockets, reports Reuters. Skyguard is being developed by Northrop Grumman, and is based on the Tactical High Energy Laser, a joint project between the U.S. and Israel in the 1990s that had subsequently been canceled. Israel is reportedly interested in obtaining an export license for Skyguard, which would allow it to deploy the high-energy system to defend strategic sites in northern Israel against Hezbollah’s continuous barrage of short-range rockets. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Iran to Supply Hezbollah with Russian-Made Surface-to-Air Missiles
August 7, 2006 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
Iran will supply Hezbollah with a number of Russian-made surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems over the coming months, reports the August 9 issue of Jane’s Defence Weekly. The article quotes Western diplomatic sources who claim that Hezbollah has pressured Iran for “an array of more advanced weaponry, including more advanced SAM systems” in preparation “for the next stage in the confrontation.” In late July, Hezbollah representatives allegedly met with senior representatives of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), at which time Iran agreed “at later date, to supply advanced Russian-made SAM systems to Hezbollah” as part of its strategy to “transform Hezbollah, after the current conflict, into a coherent fighting force and a regional strategic arm.” According to Jane’s, Tehran will supply Hezbollah with Russian-produced SAMs, including the Strela-2/2M (SA-7 “Grail”), Strela-3 (SA-14 “Gremlin”) and Igla-1E (SA-16 “Gimlet”) man-portable systems. Iran will also deliver its Mithaq-1 and Mithaq-2 man-portable low-altitude SAM systems, both of which are Iranian copies of the Chinese QW-1 man-portable low-altitude SAM system. (Link)
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Iran Admits Supplying Zelzal-2 Missiles to Hezbollah
August 5, 2006 :: Jerusalem Post :: News
Iran has admitted supplying Zelzal-2 short-range ballistic missiles to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, reports The Jerusalem Post. Mohtashami Pur, Secretary-General of the Iranian “Intifada Conference” told an Iranian newspaper yesterday that Iran transferred the missiles so that they could be used to defend Lebanon.
The Zelzal-2 (“earthquake” in Farsi) is believed to have a range of anywhere from 120 to 400 kilometers, and would be capable of striking Tel Aviv if launched successfully. The Israeli Defense Force estimates that it has destroyed almost two-thirds of Hezbollah’s Zelzal-2 arsenal, according to The Jerusalem Post. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: Zelzal-1/2/3
NYT Profiles THEL System
July 30, 2006 :: New York Times :: News
The New York Times recently profiled the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), a joint U.S.-Israeli development program that was canceled in September 2005. The project was conceived in the mid-1990s when Hezbollah guerrillas began firing Katyusha rockets at northern Israel. The contract was approved by the U.S. and Israel in April 1996, and work began at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The prototype THEL was roughly the size of six city buses, and included a chemical laser, fuel tanks, a rotating mirror, radar, and a command center. In 2000, the laser successfully destroyed an armed Katyusha in a test at White Sands, and soon thereafter shot down two dozen more. Despite these successes, the system was judged “too costly, feeble, and unwieldy for battlefield use,” according to the Times. The article quotes Yiftah S. Shapir, a military analyst at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, who said that one Hezbollah guerrilla with a rocket launcher could fire 40 Katyushas in less than a minute, meaning that Israel would have had to deploy “a few dozen of these systems” at the Lebanese border. Firing THEL just once would have cost roughly $3,000, and if properly deployed the system would have likely run into the billions of dollars. David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, concurred with Shapir’s analysis. “The program was terminated because of its prohibitive costs,” he said.
All the same, Israel now has no defense against Katyusha rockets, and is paying the price in many ways. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), White Sands Missile Range
Israel-Lebanon Conflict Fueled by Iran
July 21, 2006 :: Analysis
The ongoing conflict in Israel and Lebanon demonstrates the widespread character of the war on terrorism, the expanding regional influence of Iran, and, more specifically, the Islamic Republic’s complete willingness to proliferate ballistic and cruise missile technology to terrorist entities it considers to be political and military allies.
Over the past week, Western intelligence officials and experts have concluded that the Iran-sponsored Lebanese terrorist organization, Hezbollah, has stockpiled enough firepower to sustain a protracted fight against the Jewish state that threatens all of northern Israel and possibly much further. Hezbollah (“The Party of God” in Arabic) is a Shiite organization that emerged during the Lebanese civil war in the early 1980s. It is the principal suspect for the 1983 suicide bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. Since the 1990s, Hezbollah has built up its forces in southern Lebanon with the help of Iran, and has been intermittently firing Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. The cheap, unguided, low-flying projectiles have a range of approximately 20 km and are capable of causing considerable damage when launched into dense civilian populations. Sources indicate that many of these rockets are manufactured in Iran. Over the past week, Hezbollah guerrillas have fired hundreds of Katyusha rockets into dozens of towns and cities across northern Israel, killing and wounding civilians in the heaviest bombardment in over a decade. Hezbollah is believed to have tens of thousands of Katyushas in its arsenal.
More worrisome than the unsophisticated Katyusha rockets are the larger, more powerful ballistic and cruise missiles that Hezbollah has obtained through Iran. Israeli intelligence believes that Hezbollah possesses hundreds of Iranian-made Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 short-range ballistic missiles, which have ranges of 40 and 75 km respectfully and allow the terrorist organization to strike deep inside Israel. On July 14, an Israeli air strike destroyed at least one Iranian-made Zelzal-2 short-range ballistic missile, according to the AP. According to officials from the Israeli Defense Force, an Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying an unknown number of Zelzal-2 missiles, and the force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air. The Zelzal-2 (“earthquake” in Farsi) is believed to have a range of anywhere from 120 to 400 km, and would be capable of striking Tel Aviv if launched successfully.
Hezbollah has also demonstrated that it possesses Iranian copies of Chinese cruise missiles. On July 14, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked Israel’s INS Hanit Eilat-class missile corvette with an Iranian-made Noor (Tondar) radar-guided anti-ship cruise missile, according to Jane’s Defense Weekly. The Noor is an Iranian copy of the Chinese C-802 (CSS-N-8), reported to have a range of approximately 200 km. Hezbollah guerrillas fired the missile from the Lebanese shore at the Hanit from a range of 16 km, which prevented the Israelis from activating the ship’s missile defense systems. A second Noor, also aimed at the Hanit, missed and instead hit a Cambodian merchant ship 60 km away, which sank although its crew members were rescued. Hezbollah is believed to possess dozens of Noor cruise missiles.
Finally, Iran’s well-trained Revolutionary Guard is believed to be providing on-the-ground military advisers to Hezbollah with some level of coordination with Syria, according to Anthony Cordesman, the respected Middle East expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, as well as several U.S. officials. If this report is accurate, it means that the Islamic Republic has expanded well beyond its traditional role of financier, proliferator, and spiritual ally, and could in fact be the driving political and military force behind Hezbollah’s recent and future actions. (Link)
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» Missile details: Zelzal-1/2/3
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