‘IN FUTURE WAR, ISRAEL WILL BE HIT WITH BIGGEST ROCKET SALVOS SEEN YET’

In any future war, Israel will be hit with the largest rocket salvos seen in its history – that was the stark warning issued by Brig.-Gen. Zvika Haimovich, commander of air defenses in the Israel Air Force on 27 June 2016. Speaking at the Israel Air Missile Defense Conference, he said that Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas were carrying out joint research and development of rockets, adding, "We can see a lot of live tests in Gaza with Hamas, and with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They have put in a lot of effort into increasing and improving their skills. In the future, we will meet and engage much bigger salvos,” he said. They will come from multiple directions, and a "regional war” is a more realistic scenario than a single-front escalation. Hezbollah can cover more than 75% of Israeli territory with its rockets and missiles. "If we are talking about the multi-directional threat, this is much more complicated than what we faced five to 10 years ago. Additionally, enemies will fire cruise missiles at Israel in the next war, he warned. "It’s not a nightmare. It’s a very realistic scenario."

In response to the mounting threats, the IAF’s air defense units are focused on creating flexibility, and updating their battle doctrine, to ensure they are dealing with future, rather than the past. The commander admitted that Israel has a lack of resources, and not enough interceptors to defend against the full range of aerial threat. He called for the acquisition of more air defense batteries and interceptors, but added, "This isn’t enough.” Integrating the various air defense systems, creating cross-branch IDF cooperation, and working with the USA are all needed. I really don’t know when next war will occur. Our challenge is to always be in front, and to be one step ahead of our enemies,” Haimovich said.(J.Post)