Rebel News 17 Febbraio 2009

Tel Aviv's recent war on the Gaza Strip was part of an ongoing project to develop an anti-missile radar system, Israeli officials claim.

The defense officials, who were speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that Israel launched Operation Cast Lead to gather data for the development of the 'Iron Dome' system which is currently under construction, The Jerusalem Post reported Monday.

They said that Tel Aviv sent its weapon-development teams to gather information about rockets fired into Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip.

During the offensive against the populated coastal strip, which lasted 23 days, the teams collected data on how the homemade rockets and the military-grade Katyushas fired from Gaza behaved in different weather conditions and how they were traced by Iron Dome's radar, which is already online, the officials said.

The Iron Dome, designed to intercept the rockets that might be fired from southern Lebanon, is set to go operational in 2010. The system will work by tracing incoming rockets and firing an interceptor missile in response.

Israel had also used several new combat systems for the first time during its all-out war, which claimed almost 1,400 Palestinian lives in the strip.

According to the officials, two Namer vehicles, armored personnel carriers based on the Israeli-made Merkava IV tank, were used by Golani Brigade members in the populated sliver.

The Namer is scheduled to eventually replace the 1960s-era US M-113, which is still used by most Israeli infantry units.

The military fitted its tanks with the Wind Coat system, designed to detect anti-tank rockets and intercepts them in midair. The system was mounted on tanks during the Gaza onslaught, however, it was not actually fired, the officials added.

They said the Wind Coat tested in the Gaza War was developed after Israel's 33-day war against Hezbollah in summer 2006.

Israel faced a defeat in its war against Lebanon and its military campaign in the Gaza Strip failed to weaken Hamas' rocket-firing capability.

Palestinian factions continued their rocket attacks on Israeli towns until the last day of the war.

Source >  Rebel News | Feb 16