Preparing for war - the US installs anti-ballistic missile system in southern Israel

U.S and Israeli sources have both confirmed that the consolidation of military cooperation between the two states in recent months has been to provide the Israeli army with a state of the art anti-ballistic missile air defence system directly linked to specialised US anti-ballistic missile war ships. The sources also confirmed that the advanced system had been recently installed in southern Israel.

On Sunday night, Israel’s Channel 10 reported that the two sides had recently come to a common understanding during talks held by an Israeli military delegation to Washington which focussed on the protection of Israeli airspace from ballistic missile attacks.

It added that the new system aimed to provide air protection for Israel against ballistic missiles fired by Iran in the event of hostilities and in addition to providing protection against light aircraft and unmanned drones.

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Israel’s Channel 10 clarified that the defence system being installed in Israel was linked to US ships in the region armed with anti-surface to surface ballistic missiles weaponry including armaments to combat the Iranian “Shihab” missile capable of carrying non-conventional weapon heads.

According to the US-Israeli understanding, in the event that the system detects “enemy missiles”, it will broadcast signals to the US ships at sea connected to the Israeli air force’s radar which will then enable the Israeli army to intercept missiles at will.

A senior official in the Israeli Air Force told Channel 10 that “discussions revolve around providing additional defences to combat medium and large threats to Israeli airspace, including from all the various types of surface to surface missiles.” He added that the system was incapable of coping with missiles in the medium to short term.

The official did not conceal the fact that the new system would be capable of combating Iranian missiles in the event of the outbreak of hostilities and would be used in conjunction with the two existing air defence systems.

Source: Sama