Posted on 11/25/2012 6:52:11 AM PST by Strategy
Israeli spy satellites have spotted an Iranian ship being loaded with missiles that analysts say may be headed for Gaza, The Sunday Times reported.
According to the report, the cargo may include Fajr-5 rockets, like those that were fired by Hamas toward Israel and the stockpiles of which the Israel Defense Forces depleted during the recent round of fighting across the Gaza border, in addition to Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, which could be stationed in Sudan to pose a direct threat to Israel.
"With a lot of effort, Iran has skillfully built a strategic arm pointing at Israel from the south," an Israeli source was quoted as saying.
The cargo would travel via the Red Sea, Sudan and Egypt, following a well-established route used by Iran to smuggle arms into Gaza, the Times reported.
"We believe that Iranian warships anchored in Eritrea will accompany the weapons ship as soon as it enters the Red Sea," an Israeli source told the Times.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Rafael Advanced Defense, apparently with help from Raytheon. Is is expected to be commercially available.
I wouldn’t be too subtle about it. As soon as it nears port, the IDF should sink it with naval gunfire. Bet they could get some good secondaries. Do it within sight of land.
There’s a post on FR that goes to an analysis of the Israeli vs. Iranian expenditures. The Iranian’s cost are far more than the acquisition cost for the missile since the transport/smuggling costs make for an expensive multiplier.
The Israelis are benefiting from an economies of scale operation that spreads the developmental costs over an ever increasing number of missiles. IIRC, the Israelis are approaching $1,000 per missile. The efficiency of Iron Dome is also increasing.
The Iranians are in a situation similar to when we put the USSR in a tough cash flow situation which led to its breakup.
The Iranians are also in a race with the Saudis. Unless they can get their nukes, basic economics has doomed the Iranians. Hamas needed the ceasefire to get more missiles from Iran.
/johnny
Rafael Advanced Defense, apparently with help from Raytheon. Is is expected to be commercially available.......
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/06/israels-trophy.php
Was going to say......10, 9, 8, 7.......
Especially if the Muzzie-lovin’ Hillarybeast was strapped to one of the missiles. Every time Israel appears to be beating down an enemy, she appears like the Grim Reaper to hold back their hand so that their enemies can reload. She is an evil bitch, whose leash is currently held by an actual Muzzie. What DRUG was the American public under to re-elect such a sorry POS with such a horrible record? Because he was “cool”? Is that what really counts when the bombs are falling? That’s who you want at the wheel in a crisis? G-d help us, we have become a nation of superficial amoral jackasses. FReepers excluded, of course.
They did destroy one in Sudan.
Israel had their chance and they blew it. Could have cleaned Gaza out and occupied the land.
Sink the boat!
Thank you for this terrific link. I have been wondering for some time how Israel would be able to afford to shoot down all these cheap rockets.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=293283
“why not just blow up the missile factory? “
These ‘missiles’ are essentially unguided rockets. Crude and cheaply made. You could build them in a sheet metal shop. Blow it up if you want, they’ll just move production down the block. I would bet that there are dozens of shops building these flying pipe bombs.
Btw, another article recently posted here suggested that Israel is going broke shooting these things down. The interceptor missiles are a couple orders of magnitude more expensive than the Gaza Rockets.
I believe the opposite. They should leave the loudest calling card they can. You arm Israels enemies, your ships your crews go deep 6
Good point.
I'd vote for the narrowest part of the Suez canal...
See also: Hudna...
“The Iron Dome is an economically unsustainable defense against rockets as cheap as the Palis are using. “
I totally agree. Israel needs to mas-manufacture cheap artillery shells and unguided rockets, then they need to return attacks 10 to 1.
You forget that the superpowers (US, Russia and China) will not permit Israel to win and never has. Israel could wipe them out in one day but the powers that be threaten her to stop or she will be cut off economically.
A standard Arab hudna. Hamas agreed to a truce because they were out of rockets. When the supplies are restocked, the rocket launches will resume until the supplies are exhausted. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
In that case, it is not the shells themselves that are expensive, it is maintaining the supply train. Against incoming missiles, laser "ammo" looks better to me.
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