By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : The Israel Air Force (IAF) is developing a computerized system to predict where a missile will land with considerable accuracy very shortly after it is launched, local daily Ha’aretz reported Thursday.
This would enable Israel’s Home Front Command to order people into shelters only in a relatively small area, rather than in broad regions of the country, said the report.
Currently the Jewish state is divided into 10 large districts for the purpose of missile alerts, and at every missile launch, everyone in the relevant district is ordered into shelters.
But when the new system is completed, in an estimated 18 months, the country will instead be divided into about 100 districts, said the report, adding that as an interim step, the army hopes to be able to divide the country into 27 districts by next year.
The idea behind the system is that if fewer people have to run for shelter every time a missile falls, the country will be better able to endure prolonged missile barrages, as most people will be able to continue with life as usual.
In light of the army’s assessment that any future war will include sustained missile attacks, bolstering Israelis’ ability to live with such attacks was considered essential.
However, the system is designed mainly for use against medium- and long-range missiles, such as the Syrian Scud or the Iranian Shihab.
Until recently, Israel relied on a system that was developed during the 1991 Gulf War, which could predict a missile’s landing site only in very general terms.
A slightly more sophisticated system was improvised and put into use during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, but later the IAF decided to develop a whole new system that would enable relatively precise predictions.
According to army sources, the new system will collect data from numerous sources, including both radar and electro-optic sensors.
It will also make use of the sophisticated American radar currently being installed in Negev, which is slated to become operational next month.
The data will then be analyzed to determine the missile’s path and where it is likely to land, both in order to try to intercept it, and to warn those who will be in danger if the interception fails, according to the report.