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New
Delhi, 24
January 2005
We
have several times highlighted the India–Israel
ties between the Indian armed forces and the Israeli
defence industry and armed forces. The Israeli’s
may not salute smartly or call their superiors
“Sir” as often as we do, but they deliver and
most of our senior officers who have been to Israel
were well looked after and enlightened
professionally. India’s Home Ministry leans on
Israel to combat terrorism. DRDO scientists’ and
Indian service men acknowledge that the military,
naval, aviation and missile technology that Israel
possesses, is second to none –– they supply the
US, UK, Singapore and Australian Armed Forces with
many of their radars, Barak missiles, EW systems and
upgrades. They are experts at upgrades and have even
upgraded the F16 and helped Indian Air Force in
upgrading the SU 30 MKI and other aircraft and they
are front-runners to upgrade the Navy’s Sea
Harriers and Sea Kings. The IAF’s IL 78 refuelling
engine and drogue are of Israeli supply and appear
to be doing well, and mid air refuelling and is to
be displayed at the Republic Day Parade this year.
IAI, Tadiran and Rafael have tie-ups with us and
even go betweens are happy dealing with Israeli
companies.
With
this background and an Indo–Israeli multi-national
air exercise round the corner, we have attempted an
updated account of the Israeli air combat skills
especially focusing on their within visual range
missiles and tactics. We also present data on the
Israeli air-to-air missile development programs such
as Python 5 and Derby.
The
Indian Air Force and Israeli Air Force are both
referred to as IAF, so we have used IAF to denote
the Indian Air Force and Israeli AF for the
Israelis. Having scored a few decisive edges over
the French Armee de l'Air and United States Air
Force (USAF) in the multi-national air exercises at
Gwalior during 2003 and 2004 respectively, the IAF
now faces the toughest challenge in their
forthcoming multi-national air exercises with the
IDF/Heyl Ha’Avir (Israeli Air Force) especially in
the Within Visual Range (WVR) combat arena.
The
Israelis have established themselves as masters of
WVR combat in numerous Arab–Israeli air-combats
during the second half of the past century with an
impressive combat experience second to none. This
impressive attribute is effectively backed up by a
highly sophisticated and rigorous training schedule
of extensive flight-hours. Israel like India is
surrounded by hostile nations and thus its air force
have always put strong emphasis in WVR (Within
Visual Range) combat, since the belligerent air
bases are located nearby which makes WVR combat
scenarios a certainty. Traditionally it always
possessed one of the best WVR Air-to-Air Missiles (AAM).
Dissatisfied
by the early models of United States AIM-9
Sidewinder it developed its “wide body” Shafrir
(Dragonfly) around a Cassegrain optical system
behind a large hemispherical nose. The body diameter
was substantially increased to enhance many aspects
of the design and lethality. The design was sound
and an improved Shafrir 2 entered Israeli AF service
in 1969 and by 1983 recorded an impressive
“score” of destruction of over 200 enemy
aircraft with over 100 recorded in the October 1973
Yom Kippur war. In addition surprise was the key
“Israeli element” during these encounters with
classic slashing attacks out from behind a cloud or
“out of sun” into a firing pass  leaving
very little duration or room for the adversary to
react. In a significant encounter over Egyptian
airspace on July 30 1970, Shafrir 2s fired from a
group of Israeli F-4 Phantom and Mirage III was
credited with destruction of five Soviet MiG-21MFs
detached from Soviet Frontovaya Aviatsiya (Frontal
Aviation) assets of Hungary for defence of critical
Egyptian installations. This single encounter
prompted the Soviets to shift their emphasis to
installation of robust Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM)
systems for their expeditionary duties in the Middle
East.
However
along with Combat Air Patrols (CAP) provided by
MiG-21s (with Sukhoi-15 ‘Flagon’ a possible
option) the Soviet air defence network restricted
the Israeli air operations over Egypt to a
significant extent. Interestingly the Israeli Air
Force always held a firm respect for the Russian MiG
designs without any room for complacency and on
basis of that consistently maintained a high
kill-to-loss ratio against the frequent adversary.
The Israeli AF was also repeatedly frustrated by
high-altitude overflights by the MiG-25 Foxbat-B
reconnaissance models of the Soviet Expeditionary
Force between October 1971 and March 1972. The
Soviet MiG-25Rs based at Cairo covered the
Israeli-held coastline Haifa to Port Said and flew
the length of Sinai Peninsula involving 500-km
penetration of the Israeli airspace. With a speed of
Mach 2.5 to 2.8 at a cruising altitude of 80,000-ft
they successfully evaded the formidable Israeli
defences including F-4 Phantoms thus gathering
valuable “real time“ intelligence and
transmitting them to ground-stations through secure
data-links for further analysis.
During
the later half of the 1970s the Israeli AF underwent
extensive transformation. The F-15 Eagle entered
service in 1976 to be followed by F-16s in 1980 and
importantly the E-2C Hawkeye Airborne Warning and
Control System (AWACS) platforms. New tactics
and operational procedures were rapidly developed.
Along with Shafrir 2 its successor the Python 3 was
inducted. Python 3 had a slightly tapered body
housing an Infra Red (IR) seeker cell of exceptional
sensitivity and wider look-angle in relation to
contemporary technology, with a large delta canard
controls and was regarded superior in most aspects
to the contemporary models such as AIM-9L
Sidewinder.
The
effect of newer generation fighters and AWACS
platforms and other “enhancements” were apparent
during the war between Israel and Syria over Beka'a
Valley in 1982, when the Israelis mercilessly
decimated the Syrian Air Force with their excellent
battle management system. The Israeli example in
Beka’a valley is often considered the classic
exploitation of AWACS asymmetry since the Syrians
did not posses such a system. The Syrian Air Force
in an attempt to provide air cover to facilitate
deployment of Syrian SAM units on Beka’a valley
were overwhelmed by an “array” of Israeli E-2C
‘Hawkeye‘ AWACS platforms, static balloons,
RF-4E reconnaissance fighters, OV-1 ‘Mohawk‘
battlefield surveillance platforms and specially
equipped Boeing RC-707s. Additionally all the
Israeli fighters had data-links to process real time
information and also the excellent combination of
Shafrir 2, Python 3 and AIM-9L "all
aspect" WVR missiles.
The
Syrian data-links were effectively jammed. The
Syrian fighters were tracked as soon as they left
the runaway and the Israelis enjoyed the vital
tactical advantage of surprise. The result was the
loss of over 80 Syrian aircraft as against 2 Israeli
fighters –– 36 of the Syrian fighters were
MiG-23s. Israeli pilot Amir Nahumi was registered as
the first "F-16 ace" as having opened his
"account" in 1981, he followed it up with
six more victories in Beka'a Valley. Python 3
incidentally was credited with over 35 Syrian
aircraft kills during the Beka’a Valley campaign.
During June 1982 two Syrian MiG-25 Foxbat-A were
destroyed by the Israeli Air Force with carefully
planned and executed “snap up” attack by
F-15/AIM-7 Sparrow combination emphasizing the
maturity of the BVR tactics and procedures of the
Israeli AF pilots.
The
Israeli Air Force remains the only air power to
shoot down the formidable MiG-25 interceptor. As the
newer generation of Russian MiG-29 fighters with
Helmet Mounted Sight (HMS) mated with R-73 (AA-11
Archer) missiles with considerable off-boresight
capability and were transferred to Syria during mid
1980s, the Israelis identified the threat seriously
and embarked on a crash development of Python 4
mated with third generation Display And Sight Helmet
(DASH) intended to "catch up" if not
exceed the specified
parameters. Python 4 was in operational service by
1994 and with numerous canard control surfaces and
destabilisers was designed around an Israeli AF
philosophy of a visual identification pass coupled
with a close-in High Off-Boresight Angle (HOBA)
capability missile. Python 4 has IR (infrared)
seekers with the ability to look 90-degrees off-boresight
with a lateral "squint" capability and a
powerful 6-inch diameter rocket motor that gives it
more impulse to get through the energy sapping
manoeuvres of a HOBA launch, with enough speed
remaining for good kill distance.
The
Python 4 thrust is low initially to let the missile
turn large angles at relatively slow speed before
accelerating for the chase. The long burn motor has
a tailored thrust profile to achieve optimal
acceleration for close-in closing engagements and
high energy for terminal phase homing or end game
engagement. Python 4 can be launched at a range of
over 15-km, and the missile employs a blast
fragmentation warhead, which is triggered by an
active laser proximity fuse with a backup impact
fuse. Python 4 is effectively mated with Elbit
developed third generation DASH helmet mounted sight
(HMS) for optimum performance and lethality.
It
was no surprise that in 2000 when United States
Marine Corps (USMC) F/A-18 Hornets from Balkans
theatre armed with standard models of AIM-9
Sidewinder engaged in mock air combats with Israeli
AF fighters armed with Python 3 and Python 4
missiles in conjunction with DASH helmet mounted
sight, they were “handled roughly” by the
Israeli fighters. The Israelis prevailed in 220 out
of 240 engagements. Interestingly, Python 4 is
rumoured to be in service with the Indian Air Force
but never officially confirmed. Under
development is the "fifth-generation"
Python 5 with Mach 4 speed and 20-km range, “360
degrees capability” facilitated by Lock-On After
Launch capability, to deal with rear hemisphere
threats. More importantly the missile seeker uses
'staring focal plane array seeker' technology that
was first introduced in the US AIM-9X Sidewinder
that has inherently better Infra-Red Counter Counter
Measures (IRCCM) and is readily programmable for new
IRCCM techniques in future.
This
particular staring focal plane array technology
provides greater ability to reject flares and other
countermeasures. The extended range with Lock-On
After Launch mode gives it an added NBVR (Near
Beyond Visual Range) capability to its inherent WVR
capability. Like Python 4 the fuselage of Python 5
consists of dual canards and rear fins with an
improved motor. It now has a dual-wavelength, focal
plane array-imaging seeker, able to
acquire low-signature targets even in look-down
mode, against adverse backgrounds and possibly has
discriminatory capability against multiple targets.
It also incorporates advanced computer architecture,
inertial navigation system Infra-Red Counter Counter
Measures (IRCCM) and flight-control algorithms.
The
newly inducted Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229
powered F-16I Sufa (Storm) has been earmarked to
receive the new Python 5 in addition to AIM-120
AMRAAM as the first unit, the Negev Squadron, which
was reformed at Ramon on July 27, 2003 to operate
the two-seat example. Israel's Peace Marble V
foreign military sales program will supply the
Israel Air Force with 102 F-16I based on current
Block 50/52 production aircraft. The next unit to
reequip with the Sufa will be the Orange Tail
Knights Squadron, also at Ramon, followed by the Bat
Squadron. The F-16I was developed on the basis of
the F-16ES (Enhanced Strategic) long-range
interdictor F-16 proposal. The Israeli F-16I
enhances Israel's deterrent strategy by further
strengthening the potential threat to carry out
retaliatory strikes throughout the Middle East
thanks to Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFT).
The
Northrop Grumman AN/APG-68(V)9 multimode radar
increases the distance of airborne engagement by
30-percent over the older APG-69 system and affords
the "Sufa" with a high-resolution
synthetic-aperture ground mapping capability. As the
Israeli AF has expressed its interest to exercise
with the IAF Sukhoi-30MKI, the Indians also should
ensure that the Israelis bring their latest F-16I
acquisition. Perhaps for the first time in history
an enhanced lightweight fighter in shape of F-16I is
selected "over" a heavyweight air
dominance fighter (F-15I) for stretegic strike role.
This novel concept should evoke interest in the IAF.
Another
high-profile 50-km ranged Active-Radar Homing (ARH)
AAM referred to as Alto or Derby shares design
commonality with Python 4, with the addition of
mid-body wings. Derby may have already entered
service with the Israeli Air Force and is scheduled
to arm the Indian Navy Sea Harriers in due course.
Derby has Look-Down/Shoot-Down capability and
advanced programmable ECCM to operate under dense
electronic warfare environments. For BVR engagements
a Lock-On After Launch mode is adopted in which the
missile employs inertial guidance immediately after
launch until the seeker is activated and homes in on
the target. Derby also has a very low minimum range
and an option for lock-on before launch mode and is
thus also capable of being employed for short-range
engagements.
In
the Lock-On Before Launch for short-range
engagements, Derby's seeker can be slaved to the
aircraft's radar or the pilot's helmet mounted
cueing system. The seeker is activated before launch
and guides the missile all the way to the target.
The warhead and proximity fuse shares commonality
with that of Python 4.
It
can be stated with certainty that the forthcoming
Indo–Israeli Air Combat Exercise will bring out
the best among the “rival” pilots, technicians
and battle planners. Still the IAF Sukhoi-30MKI
enjoys a significant “first-look/first-shoot”
advantage with the N-011M Bars airborne radar and
RVV-AE (AA-12 Adder) and R-27ER (AA-10 Alamo-C) AAMs.
The electronic warfare suites of both Indian and
Israeli fighters (often common) are set to play a
significant role and if the Israelis bring in a
PHALCON force-multiplier platform, more factors will
come into play. However from both the Indian and
Israeli sides sufficient stress may be given to
inter-operability for keeping in mind the
development of possible military scenarios and
compulsions of the future. Air Forces and
establishments of numerous nations will watch the
outcome of this exercise keenly.
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