ВВС Израиля разочарованы стелс-технологией и боевыми БПЛА
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IAF sets goal for self-sufficient airborne systems
STEVE RODAN JDW Correspondent
Tel Aviv
The Israel Air Force (IAF) is to reduce its emphasis on unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and stealth technology in its combat doctrine to focus on what it calls self-sufficient airborne platforms.
The goal is for IAF combat aircraft to be able to detect air and ground threats without support from other systems, as part of their mission to counter enemy missile batteries in such countries as Iran, Iraq and Libya.
Israel Defence Force (IDF) sources said this combat doctrine will involve significant investment in electronic warfare and self-defence systems for the IAF's fleet of Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft. IAF commander Maj Gen Dan Halutz said the service envisions long-range missions in which Israeli combat aircraft would be sent to destroy enemy targets without the benefit of air bases outside Israel.
"One thing we have to aspire to is for self-sufficient platforms - complete entities without using auxiliary forces," Gen Halutz told a seminar at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies last week.
"Electronic warfare is an inseparable part of waging war and every new platform must also have an integral electronic means of conflict -such as [a] laser and [a] global positioning system."
Gen Halutz said he wants to invest in offensive rather than defensive systems. As a result, he said, he prefers to use the IAF budget for electronic warfare systems rather than stealth technology.
Another priority is lookdown-shootdown radar systems. Israel, he argued, does not have the resources or manpower to fight a war similar to the 78-day NATO campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999. He suggested that in any future war the IAF would focus on strategic targets such as missile factories and military HQs rather than tactical targets such as tanks and even missile batteries.
"We must combine technology, military doctrine and leadership to reach maximum effectiveness," Gen Halutz said. "We don't necessarily attack the missiles. What we want to do is make inoperable those operating the missiles. When Katyusha [rockets] are fired, maybe we should attack the factory."
Under such a doctrine, the IAF will also invest less in UAVs. Last month, the IAF assumed responsiblity for Israel's UAV fleet as the IDF considers developing tactical UAVs for the ground forces.
Gen Halutz played down the notion that combat UAVs will play a major role in future air combat scenarios. "UAVs cannot down MiGs or Sukhois and that will not happen over the next 40 years," Gen Halutz said. "Unlike the UAV, the fighter plane is decisive in the conflict."
