Recently the Israeli Air Force (IAF) held training exercises with Hungry, Greece, Cyprus and Italy. Now 100s of Fighter Pilots are coming to Israel for training exercises.
Hundreds of foreign pilots are scheduled to arrive in Israel for the largest-ever multinational training session to be held in the country, Channel 2 TV reported on Tuesday evening. The air forces would share theoretical information with each other and pilots would practice flying wing-to-wing with each other.
The names of countries set to partake in the joint exercise were under wraps.
Israel has held multiple exercises with other armies, and, in recent years, the Israel Air Force flew alongside foreign pilots in training runs in Greece, Hungry, Cyprus and Italy.
Israel can offer a great training ground — including low-altitude flying and drop zones for live ammo — for pilots from all over the world, Lt.-Col. Assaf told the channel.
Speaking with a helmet on his head to cover his face, and without revealing his family name, Assaf — one of the planning officers — described the benefits foreign air forces derivded when training in Israel. Israel’s knowledge of weapon systems owned by various Arab countries, and its years of experience, were of great value to its allies, the pilot said.
In recent years there has been a move to bring Israel into the NATO fold. It has only been by the veto from Turkey that Israel is not a member. So this could be one step towards that.
The War For The Extermination Of The Jews has just entered a new phase, DRONES. Entering Israeli Air Space from the Mediterranean Sea, the drone was intercepted over Southern Israel.
The Israeli air force shot down an unidentified drone on Saturday morning, around 10:00 am after it entered the country's airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, an army spokesman and army radio reported.
According to AFP, soldiers are currently searching the area where the drone was downed, in open areas in the northern Negev, to locate and identify it, the spokesman added.
IDF Spokesperson Yoav Mordechai said that the aircraft was monitored and accompanied by fighter planes throughout its flight and that it was possible to shoot it down at any stage, "however, it was decided to intercept the aircraft near southern Mount Hebron for safety reasons."
On 4 December 2011, an American Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran. The Iranian government announced that the UAV was brought down by its Cyber warfare unit which commandeered the aircraft and safely landed it, after initial reports from Western news sources inaccurately claimed that it had been "shot down". The US government claims that the UAV malfunctioned and crashed, although the aircraft was later shown on Iranian TV with no apparent damage.
U.S. officials anonymously admitted that the drone was on a CIA spying mission over Iran when it was captured.
Is it any coincidence that Hezbollah or Hamas can launch drones and Iran getting the plans for our drones from Barack Hussein Obama?
Coincidence? I think not! It was a deliberate payment to the Iranian government. And that is treason.
UPDATE:
The IDF suspects that the small UAV intercepted Saturday morning by IAF jets over the northern Sinai was launched by Iranian proxy militia Hizbullah. The drone may have been searching for targets for Iranian attacks.
The defense establishment has been looking at the fragments of the UAV, which fell in the area of southern Mount Hevron. Israel is looking into the possibility that it was launched from Sinai, but by Saturday evening, military sources said the military investigation showed the UAV had flown southward along Israel's Mediterranean coast before turning east over Gaza and heading into Israeli airspace.
If this becomes the final conclusion of the investigation, the apparent culprit behind the launch would be Hizbullah. The drone could have been collecting and transmitting information on possible targets for a missile hit by Hizbullah, Iran, or both.
The IAF's Aerial Monitoring Unit identified the UAV, which was not armed and probably served only for intelligence purposes – collecting data about IDF bases and the IAF's operational abilities.
The UAV is believed to have been equipped with cameras that transmitted the images they captured onward to receivers located outside of Israel.
Recently a war game was held amongst senior military personal in Israel. The following is the scenario that takes into account both Israeli and American reaction.
In a simulation war game featuring Israelis in senior positions, Israel loses 10 fighter jets in a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and manages to set back the Iranian nuclear program by seven years. An angry President Barack Obama takes no steps against Israel but also refuses to intervene on its side.
In the war game, conducted by Makor Rishon newspaper, the strike takes place on October 16, 2012, just three weeks before the U.S. election.
The simulation was carried out with the participation of former Government Secretary Yisrael Maimon as a member of the "Octet" of trusted ministers and Home Front Minister; Iran expert Dr. Eldad Pardo as the Iranian regime; Maj. Gen. (ret.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu as a senior member of the Octet; Begin-Sadat Center Chairman Prof. Efraim Inbar as the Prime Minister; Dr. Mordechai Kedar as "the Palestinians," Hizbullah and the Arab countries; journalist Amit Segal as Israeli and world press; journalist Ofer Shelach as Preient Barack Obama and Makor Rishon journalist Amnon Lord as game administrator.
According to the game's premise, on October 14 and 15, four independent and reliable Mossad intelligence sources indicate that Iran has begun transferring its strategic nuclear equipment to underground sites in Qom. Military Intelligence, meanwhile, determines that Iran was ready to enrich weapons-grade uranium.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lulls the press into complacency by maintaining a seemingly regular schedule in Jerusalem. In the pre-dawn hours of October 16, the IDF launches Operation Yahalom ("Diamond"). The nuclear sites at Natanz and Arak are bombed, as are several other nuclear plants and research centers. Ten IAF jets are shot down.
President Obama receives word of the strike when he is speaking to 350 rabbis in Florida. He convenes a consultation and says that Israel's "excuse" for bombing is "irrelevant" because while Iran's nuclear facilities may become immune to an Israeli attack by moving underground, they will not become immune to a U.S. attack.
The timing of the strike "basically amounts to an intervention in the elections," Obama adds. "The attack will have immediate repercussions influencing the election considerations of voters here, such as the expected rise in the price of oil. Israel could have waited until after the elecions."
In the simulation, the formal White House announcement calls on Israel to cease hostilities but does not place sanctions on it or threaten it. On the other hand, it offers no assistance. "Israel is responsible for its own fate," it says. "It went against our wishes, and therefore we do not offer it a military umbrella of protection against military responses by Iran or its proxies."
Iran sends 1,500 tanks toward the border with Iraq and instructs Hizbullah to fire missiles at Israel. It also launches a series of large scale terror actions and fires missiles from Lebanon and from its own territory at hi-tech targets in Herzliya, suceeding in destroying Intel's headquarters. A suicide bomber kills a large number of cadets in the IDF's hi-tech Talpiyot program. Low-level radiation is released in Tel Aviv by a "dirty bomb."
In the war game, Israeli media shows surprising solidarity and unity on the day of the attack, initially sparing the government from criticism. Republican candidate Mitt Romney calls upon Obama to give Israel his backing "immediately." Obama, meanwhile, threatens an Israeli minister who speaks with him on the phone: "I may still be president on November 7. This will have a price, as far as you are concerned. I will not elaborate right now, but you should take this into consideration."
Iran decides to try and drive a wedge between Israel and the U.S.. It therefore tells the U.S. it will supply it with as much oil as it needs, in the hope of helping Obama get reelected. In late October, its agents blow up a car bomb in Tel Aviv and fire a missile at an El Al jet from a ship in the Mediterranean, killing 300 people.
Meanwhile, intelligence indicates that Iran's nuclear program has been set back 7 years by the Israeli strikes. With U.S. elections days away, Obama decides that "enough is enough" and begins to threaten Iran with a U.S. attack if it does not cease its hostilities against Israel.
Whether real life will be anything like the simulation by Makor Rishon remains to be seen.
If Hezbollah did attack Israel, Israel would consider it an attack on the country from Lebanon and attack Lebanon in return. In doing so, President Barack Hussein Obama would be powerless to stop Israel or risk losing the 2012 Elections. The UN would condemn Israel, impose sanctions, etc... And there would be an new President on January 20th, 2013. President Mitt Romney.
Remember: you read it first time here and must be grateful to the Elders for the scoop of the century.
After a prolonged period of FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, the ruling Iranian Ayatollahs came to a final decision. According to this decision, which is, as mentioned, final, IAF - the Israeli Air Force - received the landing permits at several IAF - Iranian Air Force - bases. In addition, IAF planes will enjoy refueling, repair and other logistics support, including detailed maps, weather reports and everything else that may expedite bombing the heck out of Iranian nuclear installations*.
"We cannot take it anymore," reportedly said one of the senior Ayatollahs. "The endless reports about new plans of attack on our nukes that continue to inundate the capitalist media are driving us bonkers. Our generals are totally exhausted, endlessly relocating the air defense units after each such report. Our radar operators are going blind with tension, reporting incoming Zionist jets every few minutes."
"I am unable to open my favorite sites in the morning, without reading about another detailed plan of attack on our nuclear sites and spoiling my breakfast. For so many years I have been a subscriber to Washington Post (ImamXII@aol.com), to New York Times (MahmoudTheAnonymous.President@hotmail.com), to New Yorker (IslamicCatLover@yahoo.com), and now my fingers tremble each time I touch the keyboard..." confessed Mahmoud (The Mad) Ahmadinejad.
Our agent in place, however, reports that the last straw that caused the drastic decision was the disconnection from the banking network SWIFT. This act prevents the Ayatollahs from downloading the last versions of Angry Birds, causing a great deal of teeth gnashing and despair in the circles of the Iranian ruling elite.
Representatives of the Israeli military are at present on a secret location near Tehran, finalizing the last details of the operation with their Iranian colleagues. The Iranian plans for elimination of the accursed Zionist Entity, according to the rumors, are put on hold until the successful end of the current project.
Provision of air cover to IAF planes by IAF planes in case of USAF interference with the bombing operation is discussed as a possible extra.
(*) Protected bunkers for the press, with camera crew enclosures, are being prepared and transportation arrangements will be forwarded to the press prior to the event.
Remember this is Top Secret! No one should inform Barack Hussein Obama of this upcoming action.
Bird strikes are a significant threat to flight safety, and have caused a number of accidents with human casualties. Major accidents involving civil aircraft are quite low and it has been estimated that there is only about 1 accident resulting in human death in one billion (109) flying hours. The majority of bird strikes (65%) cause little damage to the aircraft; however, the collision is usually fatal to the bird.
Most accidents occur when the bird hits the windscreen or flies into the engines. These cause annual damages that have been estimated at $400 million within the United States of America alone and up to $1.2 billion to commercial aircraft worldwide. Now there is hope to reduce the damage from such attacks.
Mid-air collisions with birds are the leading cause of airplane crashes, and have led to the destruction of several Air Force planes, as well as causing more than $500,000 in damage to other planes. In response, Israel Aerospace Industries has invented the Bird Splitter, a system that destroys birds before they hit the plane.
The system was unveiled last week at the 51st annual Israeli conference on Aerospace sciences, held in Tel Aviv.
The Bird Splitter is located on the tail of the aircraft. The system “is designed to 'split' an oncoming bird and thereby protect aircraft structure and crucial systems,” IAI said.
It has been installed on the IAI's new G-250 business jet.
The risk posed by birds made papers worldwide in 2009, thanks to the “Miracle on the Hudson,” when pilot Chesley Sullenberger successfully landed an incapacitated passenger plane on the Hudson River, saving the lives of everyone on board. The plane's engines had been severely damaged in a collision with a flock of geese.
It was only the fact that Captain Sullenberger was such an exceptional pilot that the passengers and crew were not killed. Bird Splitter will help prevent these accidents.
Another useful invention for the left to demand a boycott of.
I found this article fascinating to read as it gets into wayyyy more detail about the logistics of what it would take for the Israeli air force to attempt a bombing mission on Iran to destroy the nuclear ambitions of the mullahs there. Now, I am no military mind and have no idea of the validity of some of these details and claims - I welcome any readers with that expertise to comment on this take on an Israeli attack.
I would like to add one thing though - it's my experience that whenever you think you've figured out just how the Israelis are going to pull off a mission, you're usually wrong. LOL
In mid-June, Hugh Tomlinson in the Times of London wrote that the government of Saudi Arabia conferred on Israel the "green light" for use of its airspace for an attack on Iran. This revelation was said to be conventional wisdom inside the Saudi military. Tomlinson also quoted an unnamed United States military source stating to the effect that the US Department of State and the Defense Department had both said "grace" over this arrangement.
The Saudis and Israelis immediately denied the report, while US officials made no specific comments on the subject. The silence and denials nixed further media speculation.
First reported in the Times of London in July 2009 and referred to again in Tomlinson's recent article is word of a supposed meeting between Israel's Mossad chief Meir Dagan and unnamed Saudi intelligence leaders to discuss such an arrangement that both governments denied then and now.
Given the apparent regional political status quo, how might the Israeli Air Force (IAF) strike Iran undetected on approach and at the very least unacknowledged on return if the decision is made in Jerusalem that the existential threat posed by Iran's arc of nuclear progress can no longer safely be tolerated?
Although the coordination of logistics and tactics of such a long distance mission - 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) on the straight line from Tel Aviv to Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz - is daunting, the strategic or political realities must be defined before all else.
Overflight of Iraq on a direct bearing to Iran is out of the question. Such a path would cause friction between the US, responsible for Iraq's aerial sovereignty, and the next Iraqi government sure to be of delicate composition. It's safe to assume that the US views stability in Iraq far higher on the national interest meter than say apartments in east Jerusalem, thus for Israel the straight line over Iraq comes at a price that it can ill afford to pay.
The likely route to Iran, beginning at regional dusk preferably in the dark a new moon, is to fly a great circle around Iraq. Only careful planning carried out with precision timing and execution will ensure success. For this route, almost every applicable IAF logistics and support asset would be utilized.
The first leg for any F-15I and F-16I fighter bombers is a low-level run up the Mediterranean in the area of the Syrian town of Latakin, where up to three KC-707s (aerial tankers) in race track orbit would top up the tanks of the strike group. This tankage is absolutely necessary for the shorter-legged F-16I (range 1,300 miles). Refueling the F-15I (range 2765 miles) is desirable but not a necessity unless intelligence suggests targets beyond eastern Iran.
To skirt Turkish airspace and the ability of the Turkish military to raise an alarm heard throughout the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the strike group with two pairs of Gulfstream G-550s: one of each outfitted as a network-centric collaborative targeting (NCCT) and one each employing Senior Suter technology must fly low across northern Syria. The G-550 is a small package with the range the speed to accompany the strike group round trip without refueling - therefore up to the challenge.
The NCCT aircraft ferrets out air defense radars. The Suter partner beams a data stream containing, what in computer parlance is called a a "worm", into air defense radars with the capability of incapacitating an entire air defense network, if such a network is under centralized control.
This technology pioneered by the US Air Force and part of the code named the "Big Safari" program is heady stuff said to work wonders over Syria during the IAF's strike on Syria's North Korean-designed nuclear reactor in September 2007. The support of the G-550s will be instrumental every mile of the mission.
Non-networked anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) in states hostile to Israel may necessitate F-16Is in the tried and true AGM-88 high speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) mission.
Yet another application of high technology was the launch on June 11, 2007, of Ofek-7, as noted by Richard B Gasparre, also a source on G-550s in IAF service at airforce-technology.com, is a "... reconnaissance satellite, which gives Israeli intelligence specialists site and system mapping capability of unprecedented accuracy". Ofek-7 undoubtedly contributed to strike planning for the IAF's mission to Syria.
These powerful tools will be counted on to enable the strike package to skirt either Turkish or Iraqi airspace for a short jump of 150 or so miles to reach Iranian airspace undetected. The distance on a straight line from Latakin to Tabriz in Iran is 618 miles. The flight is shorter if the Israelis avoid Turkey and cut the Kurdish corner.
At a designated point over northern Iran, the strike group splits into Q and E-flights. Q-Flight flies southeast 348 miles to reach the known uranium-enrichment sites in Qom (under construction) and Natanz (operational). E-Flight homes in on the gas storage development site at Esfahan and the heavy water reactor complex at Arak on a more southerly path of 481 miles.
All the while in Iranian airspace, the G-550 Suter and NCCT aircraft work in tandem and with F-16I aircraft to suppress radars and AAA, while F-15Is designated top cover guard against any air-to-air threat put up by Iran's air force.
The strike package can count on aid in the form of Popeye Turbo cruise missiles launched by at least one Israeli submarine from the Arabian Sea against targets in Iran designed to shield the Israeli planes, degrade enemy responses and sow confusion among the Iranian military.
At some point, one of the three US Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint ELINT (electronic intelligence) platforms in the area will "see" Iranian air defense radars and hear an explosion of Iranian voices on open airwaves and quickly piece together events in Iran. This collected product will be immediately passed through Central Command to Washington for dissemination to the principles of the National Security Council, including US President Barack Obama.
Seven hours earlier, at least three IAF KC-707s would have flown the 3,500 miles around the Arabian Peninsula, likely painted up like commercial 707 cargo aircraft, transiting international airspace to a meeting point over the northern Persian Gulf. At this extreme range, each KC-707 carries only an estimated 85,000 lbs of fuel to pass to the hungry F-16Is flying 451 miles from Qom and 350 miles from Esfahan.
Each F-16I will require at least 5,000 lbs of jet fuel for the final leg of nearly 1,000 miles through northern Saudi Arabia then home. Thus, a hinge point in IAF planning; the Israelis must determine the mix of F-16Is and KC-707s committed to the mission.
On and over the Persian Gulf, given the presence of US Navy and Air Force AWACS platforms such as the EC-2 Hawkeye and E-3 Sentry along with SPY-1 radars of US Navy cruisers and destroyers, the Israelis can have no expectation at all that the refueling scrum of the F-16Is will go undetected. During this evolution, any IAF planes too damaged to make it home can ditch close to a US Navy ship with a reasonable expectation of rescue.
Much will depend on what the US does with the information in hand. Does Obama choose to inform Iraqi and Gulf Cooperation Council allies of the situation, or will various US radars simply go into "diagnostic mode", as if operators cannot believe what they see?
If Obama's decision is to watch and listen, the strike group can try a run for home across northern Saudi Arabia. Here, the Saudis have a decision. The Saudi Air Force can defend the kingdom's airspace, possibly taking loses and handing out same, or the Israelis can bet on G-550s tricking out the kingdom's air defenses in a manner that gives the Saudis an excuse to say they were blinded by the IAF and the non-cooperation of the US.
By flying north, the IAF reaps the benefits of plausible deniability, a political necessity for US and allied Arab states. These states can honestly say they had no prior knowledge of IAF planes winging it to Iran with full racks of missiles and bombs.
Another option is available to the Israelis to increase the IAF's odds of flying the northern leg undetected. This choice is to strike the "Duchy of Nasrallah" - Hezbollah under Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon - to create cover and sow confusion. If the IAF is to strike Iran, immediate blowback is to be expected from Iran-supported Hezbollah's extensive inventory of unguided missiles.
On June 18, the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and task group including the German frigate Hessen in the company of an unidentified Israeli naval vessel made a fast transit of the Suez Canal. The Egyptians not only closed the canal to all traffic, all fishing boats where docked, while the Egyptian military lined the banks of the canal. All facets of this passage rank as extraordinary.
It is readily apparent that the US Department of State and the Pentagon collaborated closely with an Arab country to create a lane of fast transit not only for US Navy assets and an attached NATO ally, but for an Israeli ship.
One more element, the IDF launched their improved Ofek-9 reconnaissance satellite on June 22. Is this a matter of timing or of coincidence?
Tensions are high in the region, yet little could precipitate a full diplomatic meltdown quicker than for Iran to directly challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza. And this confrontation is in no way limited to Israel and Iran. Such a provocation could easily inflame public opinion in Sunni Arab states, where leaders are weary of Tehran's grandstanding on the question of Israel. Tehran's rhetoric of threats toward Israel politically undermines Arab governments seen as less fervent on the subject.
CNN reported on June 24 on Iran's canceled designs to directly test the Gaza blockade. Hossein Sheikholeslam, secretary general of the International Conference for the Support of the Palestinian Intifada, said, "In order not to give the Zionist regime an excuse, we will send the aid through other routes and without Iran's name."
Sheiholeslam's comment makes little sense, as the point of Iran's aid exercise was to win the propaganda war against Israel and Arab states. Whatever Iran's "excuse", there is reason now to suspect the Tehran regime will back down if decisively confronted by a motivated and unified coalition of area states.
A cluster of Israeli F-15I fighter jets takes off from Israel's Palmachim air base. It quickly crosses Israel, makes its way across the Jordan River and within 20 minutes or so reaches the Iraqi border. As the squadron crosses into Iraq, it is met by American F-16 fighters, which demand that the Israeli jets turn back. The Israelis refuse. There's a dogfight. Could it happen?
If what The Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen is hinting at, then the Obama Regime's
feud with Israel will have escalated into full hostility.
The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, evaded a question Tuesday regarding the theoretical possibility that the US would shoot down IAF jets en route to attack Iran.
The Weekly Standard reported that in a town hall meeting on the campus of the University of West Virginia, a US Air Force ROTC cadet asked Mullen to respond to a hypothetical situation: if Israel decided to attack Iran, he said, its jets would need to fly through Iraqi airspace, which is considered a “no-fly” zone by the American military. Would US troops shoot down the Israeli jets, the airman asked, if they entered that zone?
Mullen evaded the question. “We have an exceptionally strong relationship with Israel,” he said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with my counterpart in Israel. So we also have a very clear understanding of where we are. And beyond that, I just wouldn’t get into the speculation of what might happen and who might do what. I don’t think it serves a purpose, frankly,” he said. “I am hopeful that this will be resolved in a way where we never have to answer a question like that.”
The cadet insisted: “Would an airman like me ever be ordered to fire on an Israeli aircraft or personnel?”
Mullen still would not answer directly. “Again, I wouldn’t move out into the future very far from here,” he said. “They’re an extraordinarily close ally, have been for a long time, and will be in the future.”
In September, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski urged the US to fire on Israeli jets if they try to reach Iran. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? We have to be serious about denying them that right,” he said. “If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not.”
US President Barack Obama called Brzezinski "one of our most outstanding thinkers" in 2007, when Brzezinski endorsed his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
It would just be like Barack Hussein Obama to defend Iran, a nation that has been hostile to the US for 30 years and strike at Israel, the only nation in the Middle East who has supported the US for the last 62 years.
Some young men dream of becoming doctors. Some dream of becoming sports stars. Some young men dream of flying to the stars. And this last dream was the ambition of Lt. Assaf Ramon who was killed in a training accident on Sunday.
Assaf Ramon was the son of Colonel Ilan Ramon who was killed in the Columbia Shuttle Disaster. Assaf graduated the IAF pilot's course this last June and was the valedictorian at graduation.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. All signs are pointing to pilot error.
Israel's political and military leaders joined friends and relatives of Assaf Ramon in mourning the young pilot on Sunday evening. Ramon died Sunday when his F-16 jet crashed in the southern Hevron Hills.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted to the fatal crash, saying, "This is a dreadful tragedy for Rona [Ramon], the entire Ramon family, and the entire nation.
"It is rare that a private tragedy pierces the heart of the nation with such strength,” he continued. “Today we all grieve the death of Assaf, who fell from the heavens like his father Ilan.
"There is no comfort, only tears,” the prime minister concluded.
President Shimon Peres, who himself had been discharged from the hospital earlier in the day, spoke of his personal recollections of both Assaf and his father. “They are the symbol of all that is good in the Jewish State, they were the best of the best,” he said. “What has happened today is more than a tragedy, it is shattering.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed his condolences during a joint news conference with United States special envoy George Mitchell. "This is a painful and sad day,” Barak said. “Our hearts are breaking, and we all feel for Rona and for Assaf's siblings.”
Barak went on to say that despite the tragedy, Israel must “continue to build our strength, while extending a hand to peace.”
Among the IDF commanders to assemble at the Ramon family home was Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. Former Air Force commanders joined the family as well.
Ashkenazi recalled happier times three months earlier, when he joined the family in celebrating Assaf's completion of his pilots' course. “This is a terrible blow... Unfortunately, this is part of the price we pay for living in our beloved land.”
Air Force Deputy Commander Brigadier-General Yochanan Locker expressed sympathy as well. Asaf and Ilan were both exceptional soldiers “who served as an example for many,” he said.
Here at Monkey in the Middle we send our condolences and prayers to the Ramon Family. May G-d comfort and console you in this time.
It has only taken 27 years for this piece of IAF history to finally come to light:
(INN) An Israeli surveillance airplane on duty over Baghdad 27 years ago led to the downing of an Iraqi MiG that pursued it.
The story was published in a recent issue of Air Forces Monthly, and its translation into Hebrew was permitted by the Israeli military censor. The translator was Avinoam Misnikov, editor of the Hebrew-language Merhav Aviri (Air Space) website.
The star of the story is a U.S.-made Phantom F-4E, nicknamed "Kurnass Shablul" (Sledgehammer Snail). The plane was fitted with what was then state-of-the-art photography equipment. Shortly after they arrived in Israel, the planes were deployed intensively, regularly flying at extremely high altitudes over 60,000 feet (11.3 miles, 18 kilometers). The missions were highly classified. The pilots wore high-pressure suits in case of high-altitude emergency, similar to that which astronauts wear: six layers of material, including fire-resistant Nomex, weighing a total of 12 kilograms (over 25 lbs.).
On Jan. 3, 1982, a half-year after Israel destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osirak, two of the planes set off on a reconnaissance sortie high over Iraq. The lead plane was flown by future IDF General Gideon Sheffer, with navigator Yuval Naveh, and the other was piloted by Ran Granot, with navigator Danny Grossman.
On their return home, while flying relatively low, they were intercepted by a single Iraqi MiG-21. Sheffer quickly calculated, based on its smooth flying formation and a full afterburner, that the Iraqi plane had used up much fuel during takeoff. The two Israeli planes then toyed with the MiG for several minutes, without giving it a chance to fire at them. Finally, the two sped off towards home at full speed, and landed safely after refueling in mid-air.
Intelligence information received afterwards showed that the MiG later crashed for lack of fuel – and the two reconnaissance planes were credited with the downing.
Rumors circulated after the Peace for Galilee War in June 1982 that one of the planes had been downed by a shoulder-fired missile, but this was found to be untrue. Years earlier, a Sledgehammer reconnaissance plane was downed over Egypt; pilot Sheffer ejected safely, but navigator Ofer Tzidon was killed.
The IAF had kept the lid on this, and other actions due to security concerns. It is not always in the best interests of the IAF to broadcast to the world all of its operations, all of its victories and losses. This fact is known and understood by the men and women who serve in the IAF.
On February 1, 2003, Colonel Ilan Ramon died upon the Columbia Shuttle when it broke apart over Texas.
Col. Ramon's career in the IAF was remarkable. Born on June 20, 1954 in Ramat Gan, Israel, Ilan excelled in his schooling. In 1974 he became a fighter pilot with the IAF, was one of the first F-16 pilots for Israel, he was the youngest pilot who took part in the 1981 Raid on the Osiraq Nuclear Plant in Iraq, and Israel's first astronaut.
Ilan was posthumously awarded the US Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and the Distinguished Public Service Medal. He remains the only foreigner to be awarded the US Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
The love of flying runs in his family. It must for his son, Assaf has earned his wings.
Assaf Ramon, son of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon, will receive his wings and officer's ranks this Thursday at a graduation ceremony for the Israel Air Force's pilot training course.
Ilan Ramon became the first Israeli in space aboard the Columbia, which exploded during its reentry over Texas in 2003.
Ramon was a colonel in the IAF and before joining NASA he held a number of staff positions at the branch's Tel Aviv headquarters.
Assaf Ramon announced his plans to follow in his father's footsteps shortly following the Columbia tragedy.
In 2006 he was enlisted in the IDF and successfully passed the IAF's grueling examinations and trials for the prestigious pilots course.
Ramon has also been chosen as valedictorian.
Several months ago, during a routine training flight in a Skyhawk A4, Ramon encountered a technical failure when the engine suddenly died.
Instead of injecting, as protocol dictates, Ramon, together with the flight instructor, successfully restarted the engine and safely returned to base.
Ramon is training to become a fighter pilot and following the course will be assigned to a squadron.
Ramon's graduating class is comprised of men only, most of whom are residents of cities, in stark contrast to the IAF's early days, when most pilots came from kibbutzim.
To become a pilot for the IAF you must be the best of the best. For the IAF only takes the best students from Israeli schools, and only the best of these can even hope to become fighter pilots.
Young Assaf is following in his father's footsteps, but also blazing his own trail upon the skies.
Once again the nation of Israel mourns the loss of over 6 million men, women, and children by the Nazis. The crime they had committed was the worst one of them all: Being born a Jew.
In those years the world did not care, did not believe, would not save lives. The reason: They are Jews. Need any more been said.
Today the world has assembled in Geneva for what should be a noble cause. The denouncation of bigotry and hatred. But like the world 70 years ago, only the Jews are being blamed for every trouble that is facing all nations. And it is an abomination that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would use such an conference to promote hatred in the form of Anti-Semitism.
On September 4, 2003, in a large ceremony, the Israeli Air Force flew three f-15 jets over the Auschwitz concentration camp in a show of the Jewish people's continued strength and triumph over past adversities.
This visit was a testament to the world that the saying "never again" is not just a slogan. Many of the participants were the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.
This is the video of that event:
Israel Air Force Ceremony - F-15 Jets over Auschwitz
Tonight, at sunset would you please light a candle in remembrance of those who perished all those years ago. And pray that there will never again be another place like Auschwitz.
This is a collection of IAF films from Saturday's strikes on underground and above-ground weapons caches in Gaza. There are some neat explosions here. Let's go to the videotape.
Precision bombing and minimum of civilian causalities. This was used in the first Gulf War, yet the MSM still claims that it can't be done now. Why the difference? Very simple. This time it is being done by Israel.
I woke up this morning to a wonderful Chanukah gift. The IAF attacking Gaza. I know I shouldn't be ecstatic, that I shouldn't be joyful at the death of my fellow human, but I feel like dancing and singing this day.
It is only fitting that at this time of the year when Jews all over the world are celebrating the Maccabees's victory over the Greeks (a war in which military expert would have said they couldn't win) that the murderers of Gaza start feeling the flames of war themselves.
This just didn't happen overnight. It has been 8 years in the making. 8 years of Sderot and the Western Negev being attacked on a daily basis. 8 years of death and destruction. Yet Hamas is screaming that they are being attacked without cause.
Over 80 rockets and mortar shells struck areas throughout the western Negev. In Netivot, 58-year-old Beber Vaknin was killed, one person was seriously wounded, and four others sustained light to moderate injuries when their house was hit by a rocket.
All the wounded were evacuated to Soroka hospital in Beersheva.
Later, a rocket hit a house in the community of Mivtahim, seriously wounding one person and lightly wounding another. A Magen David Adom team treated the wounded at the scene.
In Ashkelon, at least 10 rocket strikes were reported, with one hitting an apartment building.
For the first time ever, a Kassam rocket struck Kiryat Gat. The "Color Red" warning siren also sounded in Ashdod, although the location of a rocket strike had yet to be reported.
Beber Vaknin had a right to live in his nation in peace and safety. His only crime was being a citizen of Israel and a Jew. To Hamas that is the greatest crime in the world.
While Hamas indiscriminately attacks civilian targets while calling everywhere in Israel a military target. The IAF is selecting true military targets and wiping them out.
The wide-scale offensive on Hamas installations in the Gaza Strip was codenamed 'Operation Cast Lead,' after a Hanukkah poem by H.N. Bialik referring to a "dreidel cast from solid lead."
At least 200 people were reported killed - the majority of them Hamas operatives - and nearly 400 wounded in the attacks. It was not clear if the aerial offensive would be coupled with a ground offensive. Asked if Hamas political leaders might be targeted next, military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said, "Any Hamas target is a target."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a press conference that the IAF had succeeded in eliminating senior Hamas commanders during the offensive. According to witnesses, among the dead was Hamas police chief Maj.-Gen. Tawfik Jaber.
Despite the massive casualties, Hamas remained defiant, vowing revenge and calling on all other Palestinian factions to join in the fight.
"Today we are stronger then we've ever been," one spokesperson for the group said at a press conference. "We won't raise the white flag, we won't give anything up, we won't retreat."
Minutes after the first wave of air strikes hit areas in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians reported a second wave which targeted installations in the center and the north of the Strip. Channel 2 reported that 60 planes were involved in the attack, and nearly 100 targets were hit. Military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon. Full Story
If Hamas thinks this is a limited operation like other times, they are in for a rude awakening. For the IDF is amassing on the border, just itching to go.
The IDF was beefing up forces around the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening in preparation of a possible ground operation following a massive air assault earlier in the day.
Defense officials estimated that Hamas was capable of firing 150-200 rockets a day, adding that the operation could last for weeks.
Israel's goals, officials added, was to end Hamas rocket fire, end smuggling of arms into Gaza and severely disrupt any Hamas military activity.
In a press conference held earlier in Tel Aviv, Barak said the IDF would deepen and widen its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip as much as needed.
"There is a time for cease-fires and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight," Barak said. "For months the IDF and security forces have been preparing for the operation that began today."
Barak stated that Israel had not intended to allow Hamas to continue to fire rockets into Israel without responding.
The defense minister warned that tough times lay ahead. "I don't want to deceive anyone," he said. "It won't be easy and won't be quick. We must be resolute." Rocket attacks were expected to continue and to increase during the operation, he added.
"For weeks Hamas and its satellite groups have rained [Israel] with rockets…and mortar shells. We did not intend to let this situation continue," he said.
Happy Chanukah Sderot! You and your children are getting the best Chanukah gift possible. And maybe this time the IDF will be able to stop those horrible rockets once and for all.
It is being reported that Iran has enough nuclear material to make one nuclear weapon. That is a very scary thought considering that Iran has been telling the world that they will wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. And the world does nothing to stop them.
Iran has enough material for one bomb
Iran will have enough highly enriched uranium by the end of 2009 to produce its first nuclear weapon, a former top official in the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission told The Jerusalem Post Thursday, refuting a New York Times article which claimed that the Islamic Republic already had sufficient nuclear material to create a weapon.
Both the article and veteran Israeli nuclear expert Ephraim Asculai's remarks came in response to a report released Wednesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in which the United Nations nuclear watchdog claimed that, as of early this month, Iran had amassed 630 kilograms of low-enriched uranium (LEU).
The New York Times quoted Richard L. Garwin, a top nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb, as saying that Iran had produced approximately enough nuclear material to assemble an atomic weapon.
"They clearly have enough material for a bomb," said Garwin. "They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that's another matter."
What will the world now do? Nothing. It is not in the world's interest to stop Iran. But it is in Israel's.
Israeli Air Force 'Ready for Iran's Nuclear Sites'
The Israeli Air Force is ready to attack Iran's suspected nuclear weapons project if diplomacy fails to persuade the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment, said Commander Ido Nehushtan in an interview published Tuesday.
A strike against Iran's nuclear facilities "is a political decision," the IAF commander said, "but if I understand it correctly, all options are on the table ... The Air Force is a very robust and flexible force. We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us."
Asked if the Israeli military would be able to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, which are spread around the country, with some built underground, Nehushtan said, "Please understand that I do not want to get into details. I can only say this: It is not a technical or logistical question."
While Israel has fought all its immediate Arab neighbors, its pilots have had limited capabilities to carry out missions as far away as Iran. A strike on Iraq's sole nuclear reactor in 1981 was an extraordinary exception at the time but analysts say the F-16I has made long-distance strikes more possible.
The world is hoping that Iran does go nuclear and attacks Israel in an attempt to destroy the Jewish nation. It would solve their problem of what to do with the PalArabs (that is a Muslim problem and should be handled by them) and they won't have to look like the anti-Semities they are.
They are scared that Israel will attack first, destroy Iran's nuclear capablity and remain a nation. Considering the Moonbats on the left, who hate Jews and Israel and would like to finish the job Hitler started, have a new spokesperson: Mairead Maguire. A real nutcase this one.
Maguire: UN should suspend Israeli membership
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire says the United Nations should suspend or revoke Israel's membership.
Maguire, in a news conference Thursday, said that it's time for the international community to take action against Israel. She claimed Israel should be punished for ignoring a series of United Nations resolutions over the years.
Maguire, who won the 1976 peace prize for her work with Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, is currently visiting the Palestinian territories to protest Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Maybe she should go to Gaza and they will let this idiot of an anti-Semite fire off a couple of rockets into Israel. That would just make her day! After all, in her mind, she wouldn't be killing men, women and children, but just pigs and apes.
And if Israel is removed from the UN, why don't they remove some really horrible nations like:
Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Iran. Their human rights record is some of the worst in the world. Then again, if they remove Israel, it would be a blessing in disguise. For then Israel would not have to obey any of those UN Resolutions that the anti-Semites of the world keep bringing up. and if they went to war over Lebanon again, they couldn't be forced into another cease-fire like the one called 1701. It could be a win-win situation for Israel.
Today is 5th day of Iyar, it is on this day in 1948 the modern State of Israel was born. Out of the ashes of the Holocaust and 1,882 years after the Romans destroyed the ancient Temple and nation, it was reborn.
Deuteronomy 1:8: "Behold, I have given up the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord hath sworn unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."
Never in the history of the world has any nation had to endure such a tumultuous birth. No nation had to face such adversity, such challenges at their start.
7 nations were poised to invade upon the declaration of Israel's independence. These were some of the best and equipped armies in the Middle East. Due to an embargo on the new nation, little Israel had no tanks, no anti-tank weapons, a few planes, no navy, 10,000 rifles, and 100,000 men at arms. The military experts of the day told President Truman not to recognize the new nation, it wouldn't survive 10 days.
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in theBalfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.
In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.
WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
Then President Harry S. Truman had the courage and the strength of conviction to issue the following:
This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the Provisional Government thereof.
The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.
Signed Harry S. Truman
Asking for peace, but given war, a new nation took its place amongst the nations of the world and the people of the world held their breath. Would the new nation survive this test? Could the State of Israel survive more than 10 days?
It has been 60 years since those words were uttered. It has been 60 years and 6 wars since that fateful day. And Israel has stood. From humble beginnings as an underdeveloped nation, it has become a leader in technology and science. From having no military, Israel has built up a formidable fighting force. A military might out of necessity, having neighboring nations who would, in the words of Iran's President Ahmadinejad: "Wipe Israel off the face of the Earth!"
Israel and Israelis have prevailed. Creating an open society while surrounded by societies that have discarded Human Rights. Creating an society where Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Religion is granted to all.
On this 5th day of Iyar, in the year 5768, we wish Israel:
