INFO ON THE EITAN….ISRAEL’S NEW UNMANNED AIRCRAFT
Yesterday I posted information on the Heron or Eitan, the new Israeli Air Force unmanned aircraft, suggesting that it could play a role in shooting down Iranian missiles in the “boost phase.”
Here are more details which show an aircraft with even more capabilities:
Equipped with a powerful (1,200 horsepower) turbo prop engine, the 4.6 ton Heron TP can operate at 45,000 feet. [That’s a line-of-sight of several hundred kilometers.] The Heron TP has a one ton payload, enabling it to carry sensors that can give a detailed view of what’s on the ground, even from that high up. The endurance of 36 hours makes the Heron TP a competitor for the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper.
Now for more of this layman’s speculation: The Heron may be able to observe and attack an Iranian missile taking off, using an air-to-air missile such as the Israeli medium-range Derby missile with its 50 kilometer-range and 188 kilo (280 pound) weight or Raytheon’s Amraam missile. Or a more ambitious program would be to equip the Heron with an air-launched “hit-to-kill” Patriot PAC-3 missile which is under development. It weighs some 700 pounds. When launched from the ground, the PAC-3 has a 20 kilometer; air-launched would be longer. View the air-launched PAC-3 program on this Lockheed-Martin clip. [scroll down about 1/3 of the page.]
A few months ago, the following news item appeared in Flight International: “The U.S. Air Force is moving closer to launching a program to arm fighters and unmanned aircraft systems with the capability to shoot down ballistic missiles. Preliminary findings of a joint study with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency indicate that the air-launched intercept concept is technically feasible, says air force chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz.”
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Israeli Air Force unveiled its new aircraft, the Eitan, last week. It’s an unmanned vehicle with the wingspan of a 737 aircraft, the ability to stay in the air as long as 20 hours, a relatively heavy payload, and a range of 1000 kilometers. Various publications point out that Iran is within range.
OK, why would Israel need such a large and long range UAV? Surveillance for sure, but ostensibly, Israel also has spy satellites for that purpose.
Let’s go back a few years to remember a defense concept that was floating around — “Boost Phase Intercept,” an idea to shoot down an enemy missile while it is taking off. The lift-off is relatively slow and if the missile with its conventional, nuclear or chemical warhead can be destroyed, it would fall on the enemy’s territory. Another variation suggested a boost phase launcher intercept, that is to destroy the launcher after the missile launch. The concepts kind of took a back seat with the development of the Arrow anti-missile missile, a sophisticated weapon that shoots down enemy missiles in mid-flight.
So now along comes the Eitan, with its 40,000+ feet ceiling, airborne early warning capability, probably the ability to carry a weapons payload, long endurance and long range (and probably a refueling capability). What do you have? I expect Iranian planners are wondering whether Israel has developed its boost phase intercept capability to go along with the Arrow.
Here’s an eight-year old article that describes the boost phase intercept concept and details Israel’s MOAB project — the Missile Optimised Anti-Ballistic Missile System — published by the Center for Defense Information.
Maybe the Iranians should look at it, as well.
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