[BITList] The new threats we need to face.
John Feltham
wulguru.wantok at gmail.com
Sat Aug 1 13:01:16 BST 2009
Israelis Shoot Down Chinese Unmanned Aerial Vehicle!
June 25, 2009: The Israeli Air Force recently held a training exercise
where they used Chinese UAVs for target practice. An F-16 pilot went
up, located the small UAV, and then shot it down with his 20mm cannon.
Finding small UAVs is not easy, either with radar or the naked eye.
Once you find them, shooting them down is comparatively easy. The
Israelis are concerned about more UAVs coming from Lebanon, where
Hezbollah has some. Thus the very realistic training.
And the UAV threat is very real. Back in November, 2004, the Lebanese
based terrorist group Hezbollah sent a small UAV down Israel's
Mediterranean coast, where it flew over an Israeli town for 15 minutes
and then flew back into Lebanon. Hezbollah called their UAV "Mirsad
1", but it was actually an Iranian Ababil. The Iranians have been
developing UAVs for nearly a decade. Their Ababil is a 183 pound UAV
with a ten foot wing span, a payload of about 80 pounds, a cruising
speed of 290 kilometers an hour and an endurance of 90 minutes. The
Ababil is known to operate as far as 120 kilometers from its ground
controller. But it also has a guidance system that allows it to fly a
pre-programmed route and then return to the control of its controllers
for a landing (which is by parachute). The Ababil can carry a variety
of day and night still and video cameras. There are many inexpensive
and very capable cameras available on the open market, as is the
equipment needed to transmit video and pictures back to the ground.
The Israeli air defense organization was embarrassed by this
undetected UAV flight. But it wasn't the first time. In 1987, a
Hizbollah commando flew undetected into northern Israel using an
ultralight vehicle (somewhat larger than the Ababil), landed near a
military camp, and killed six soldiers before he was killed. This led
to the upgrading of the air defense system in northern Israel to
prevent that sort of thing happening again. Since then, the Israelis
have detected other ultralights and small aircraft trying to enter
Israel, and stopped them. But during the November 7th flight, the UAV
moved at an altitude of under 300 feet, and was the smallest aircraft
the Israelis have had to deal with so far. Nevertheless, the Israeli
air defenses were apparently supposed to be capable of spotting
something like an Ababil UAV.
In April, 2005, another Ababil UAV flew about 30 kilometers into
Israel, then turned around and reached Lebanese air space before
Israeli fighters could catch up with it. There have been no more
Hezbollah attempts to fly UAVs into Israel since.
What the Israelis fear most is low flying Ababils coming south
carrying a load of nerve gas, or even just explosives. Using GPS
guidance, such a UAV could hit targets very accurately. Moreover,
there’s nothing exotic about UAV technology, at least for something
like the Ababil. It was no surprise that Iran began using homemade
UAVs in the late 1990s. After all, they had received some UAVs from
the United States in the 1970s (Firebee target drones.) The Israelis
immediately tagged Iran as the supplier of the Hizbollah drone,
because Iran has long supplied that terrorist organization with cash,
weapons and equipment for decades.
Chinese UAVs are probably good for training Israeli pilots, as they
are cheap, and similar to the Iranian Ababil. China is a decade or two
behind the West in UAV design. An example of this can be found in one
of their most numerous models, the ASN-206/207. This is a 488 pound
aircraft, with a 110 pound payload. The 207 model has a max endurance
of eight hours, but more common is an endurance of four hours. Max
range from the control van is 150 kilometers and cruising speed is
about 180 kilometers an hour. A UAV unit consists of one control van
and 6-10 trucks, each carrying a UAV and its catapult launch
equipment. The UAV lands via parachute, so the aircraft get banged up
a lot. A UAV battalion, with ten aircraft, would not be able to
provide round the clock surveillance for more than a week, at best.
But Chinese planners believe this is adequate. The unit contains
repair crews, equipment and spare parts. This UAV can broadcast back
live video, and be equipped for electronic warfare.
The Chinese also have several models of smaller UAVs (100-200 pounds),
with endurance of 2-4 hours. The lack of persistence (the ability to
stay in the air for long periods of time) means the Chinese are unable
to use this most important of UAV capabilities. The Chinese are
working on new UAVs that are closer to current U.S. designs.
Some Chinese UAVs may eventually show up using Israeli technology.
Three years ago, Israeli UAV manufacturer EMIT got busted after it was
caught shipping UAV technology to China. EMIT was not a major player
in the UAV industry, having only three models (the 1,000 pound
Butterfly, 400 pound Blue Horizon, the hundred pound Sparrow). The
twenty year old firm has been scrambling to stay in business. The
Chinese helped set up a phony cooperative deal in a Southeast Asian
country, to provide cover for the transfer of EMIT UAV technology to
China. Most of EMITs production is for export, but Israel has agreed
to consult with the United States about transfers of technology to
China. This is because Israel has been caught exporting military
equipment, containing American technology, to China (in violation of
agreements with the United States.)
.
__,_._,___
ooroo
Bad typists of the word, untie.
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