Air Defense: Expanded Rocket Radar Warning System

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July 2, 2012: Israel is setting up rocket attack warning radars on its Egyptian border in the Sinai desert. For the last few years there has been increasing terrorist activity in the Egyptian controlled Sinai. This includes rockets smuggled into the Sinai and then fired at Israel.

Over the last decade Israel has developed a radar based rocket detection system and software that quickly calculates where an incoming rocket will land. The current version of the system automatically sounds the air raid sirens in the target area, warning everyone to take cover and wait for the all clear siren signal. For short range rockets, the warning time is less than 30 seconds, but even ten seconds is time enough for most people to take cover.

Up until now the radar warning system was used on the borders with Lebanon and Gaza. The system is used frequently, often daily, outside Gaza. Israeli intelligence believes that Hamas (in Gaza) and Hezbollah (in Lebanon), who are both clients of Iran (who also supplies the long range rockets), have so many rockets ready to launch that the Israeli warning system would not be able to plot landing areas for all incoming rockets quickly enough. Because of this it's expected that a large scale would produce a 25 percent reduction in warning time. But for longer range rockets, this would still be about 90 seconds of warning.

 

 

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