Israel military news and views
- Thread starter sandyj
- Start date
The largest joint US-Israeli military exercise in history has begun. The Juniper Oak exercise will be one of the most significant maneuvers between the two allied states, which will involve thousands of units, dozens of ships and 142 aircraft. The Juniper Oak military exercises will last until Friday and aim to deepen cooperation between the US and Israeli military as tensions rise over Iran's nuclear program. During the exercise, missile boats and submarines of the IDF Navy will conduct joint maneuvers with an American aircraft carrier. In addition, at sea, at a great distance from the coast, refueling of missile boats of the Saar-5 type by an American tanker will be practiced. The allies are working out command and staff interaction, the use of aviation in combat operations at sea, refueling aircraft in the air, "electronic attacks", suppressing enemy air defense, intercepting aircraft, and much more.
Israel's BlueWhale unmanned submarine. The state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries showed the Blue Whale unmanned submarine under development. The autonomous underwater vehicle uses sonar and electro-optical systems to detect targets. According to the developer, the unmanned submarine has already completed thousands of hours of autonomous operations. The ELI-3325 boat is equipped with a towed array sonar. The submersible can conduct acoustic passive intelligence gathering, covert mine detection, and other mine protection operations. Blue Whale can detect and track targets underwater and on the surface. The boat communicates in real time via a dedicated secure satellite channel through a retractable mast. Autonomous submarine Blue Whale can stay at sea for up to 30 days, the battery charge is enough for 10 days of active work. Boat speed from 2 to 7 knots in submerged position. The underwater drone is 10.9 meters long and 1.12 meters in diameter. Weight 5.5 tons.
Tests of 155 mm automatic self-propelled guns Sigma Israel. The German company Rheinmetall and the Israeli Elbit Systems conducted live firing from a 155-mm Sigma wheeled self-propelled howitzer. The demonstration of the new self-propelled guns took place in March at a training ground in southern Israel. There are no details on the new howitzer yet. It is known that the new self-propelled guns are equipped with a fully robotic loading system. The Sigma ACS is controlled from the cockpit by a crew of two or three people. The cabin of the L52 self-propelled guns has anti-fragmentation protection, a system of protection against weapons of mass destruction and air conditioning. The self-propelled guns are equipped with a 155-mm L52 Rheinmetall cannon and are located in the Elbit robotic artillery turret.
Israel's Iron Beam laser air defense wall. The first laser air defense system "Iron Beam" developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems will enter service with the Israeli army within 18 months. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the decision was made to deploy a "protective laser wall" around Israel over the next 12 months. The Iron Beam laser air defense system will be the fifth element of Israel's integrated air defense system, along with Arrow 2, Arrow 3, David's Sling and Iron Dome. The first successful test of the Iron Beam air defense system took place in 2022, one laser air defense interception will cost $4, compared to one Iron Dome air defense missile interception at $50,000. The Iron Beam battery consists of an air defense radar, a command and control unit and two high-energy solid-state lasers with a power of up to 150 kW. The system uses two lasers to provide the power needed to overcome atmospheric interference and physically destroy a target by focusing beams into a single "coin-sized area". Air defense "Iron Beam" is designed to destroy missiles, artillery shells, mortar mines and UAVs at a distance of up to 7 kilometers, some sources indicate up to 20. The ground-based Iron Beam system was designed for installation on a car or armored vehicles, experiments were carried out on airplane.
The new Israeli tank Merkava Mk4 Barak entered service with the troops. The Israeli Ministry of Defense has officially announced the entry into service of a new modification of the Merkava Mk 4 Barak tank. The first tanks were received by the 52nd tank battalion of the 401st armored brigade of the Israeli army. The tank was announced before the situation in Israel worsened. The development of the tank began in 2015, the main innovations affected electronics. In the Merkava Barak tank, a new fire control system was introduced with the Makhshev Mesima task computer, which uses elements of “artificial intelligence”. The computer automatically identifies targets and distributes priority for their destruction, displaying an enlarged image of the target on the commander’s display. At the same time, “Makhshev Mesima” independently determines the type of projectile suitable for hitting the enemy, measures the range to the target, makes corrections for firing and aims the gun. The tank was also connected to the TORCH-X automated combat unit control system as part of the concept of network-centric warfare. The tank now has an Iron Vision system, which allows the crew to see everything that is happening around the tank at 360 degrees, day, night, in rain and fog. 46 computers and dozens of cameras record movement, identify dangers and transmit data. The information enters an electronics unit mounted on the commander’s helmet, and after processing in the form of a projected image, it is displayed on a small screen in front of the tankman’s eyes, as if wearing augmented reality glasses.