It now appears that the remote controlled helicopter that was shot down in Israel was composed of radar absorbent fiberglass. It also appears that Iran was able to develop this technology from the captured US RQ-170 drone. The ability to reverse engineer this material and incorporate it into other types of aircraft in 10 months is impressive. Maybe this news will make Obama reconsider his stance not to meet with PM Netanyahu.
David DeGerolamo
Two days after UAV, Patriots posted near Haifa and other parts of N. Israel
Anti-missile Patriots posted in N. Israel
Two days after an Iranian pilotless helicopter breached Israeli air space, Israel Monday, Oct. 8, stationed Patriot missile interceptor batteries in different parts of northern Israel, including Mt. Carmel, near Haifa, in what one Israeli official called a routine step. DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that the Patriot, which has extremely high interception capabilities, was in fact rushed into position as the country celebrated Simhat Torah, lest Iran or Hizballah plan a follow-up aerial intrusion and in view of the current deterioration in Syria which Turkish President Abdullah Gulf called Monday “the worst case scenario.” These batteries are only normally deployed during joint US-Israeli drills or in times of eve-of-war tension.
The IDF is clearly acting fast to correct the air defense weaknesses which permitted the UAV Saturday, Oct. 6, to fly undetected from north to south along Israel’s Mediterranean coastline over its gas and oil rigs and close to its Haifa Bay industrial center, power stations and Navy bases in Haifa and Ashdod. Most worrying was the Iranian drone’s flight over IDF’s sensitive the Palmachim rocket launch site not far from the Nahal Soreq nuclear research reactor, without triggering any early warning tracking systems.
In all, Israel’s air and missile defense systems failed to respond to incoming aerial threats from the north – Syria or Lebanon – and the West – the Mediterranean.
After the incident, a high-ranking Iranian commander, Jamaluddin Aberoumand, deputy coordinator of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the incursion exposed the weakness of Israeli air defenses. He told the Fars news agency, that it indicated Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system “does not work and lacks the necessary capacity.”
