re: US to give Israel 5000 "smart bombs", "bunker busters".

Current Events » in reply to US to give Israel 5000 "smart bombs", "bunker busters".

Pete Stanley — 9/22/2004 6:14:40 AM (archived)

I think this is Bush's way of trying to give Israel non-nuclear means of dealing with Iran. If Bush loses the election. If Bush wins, the US will be taking care of it.

However, Israel's main problem in an Iranian air campaign would be lack of tanker aircraft. Israeli F-15s and F-16s could only carry so much munitions on their external hard points. Any strike package must also include several aircraft devoted to suppression of enemy air defences, adding to the burden. In the late '90s, the Russians sold Iran some rather advanced anti-aircraft missles at a discount. One would assume that the discount came with the understanding that Russia would be the vendor for future training, upgrades and other service contracts.

Open sources don't agree on the number of Israeli tanker aircraft, but it's not many, according to globalsecurity.org:

Israeli tanker assets are poorly attested in open sources. IISS claims that the IAF has a total of 5 Re'em" ("Antelope") tankers (4 KC-707, 1 KC-135). Periscope thinks that the 6 Boeing 707-320 R'em (Unicorn) aircraft are transports, but reports that there are 5 KC-707 Saknayee (Pelican) tankers. Aeroflight says there are a total of four Boeing 707-320 aircraft converted to a KC-707 configuration of unspecified designation. What is probably the most reliable SOURCE agrees that a total of five Boeing 707-320 aircraft, acquired between January 1983 and November 1999, have been converted to a KC-707 configuration of unspecified designation.

Alternatively, Israel could launch an airstrike from someplace other than Israel. A good bet up until several month ago would be Turkey, but the Turks have been becoming more and more uncooperative with Israel lately. Qatar is a very small <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3027909.stm>possibility. Azerbaijan, is possible, too. Iran has a large Azeri popluation within its borders, and Tehran has consistently backed Armenia in conflicts with Azerbaijan.

Also, and perhaps more importantly to Israel, these bombs would give non-nuclear options to strike Iranian assets in Lebanon - i.e. Hezbollah. Hezbollah reportedly has thousands of surface to surface missles in Lebanon. The number that can reach far into Israel is probably less than 100. Some of these rockets and missles may well have chemical warheads.

I'd be curious to see a list of the bombs by model. Anyone have that?

The whole thread (9 posts)

US to give Israel 5000 "smart bombs", "bunker busters". - Bowser - 9/21/2004 11:21:17 PM
- re: US to give Israel 5000 "smart bombs", "bunker busters". - Pete Stanley - 9/22/2004 6:14:40 AM
  - You raise a good point about the tankers, but there may already be a solution - Larry J - 9/22/2004 2:11:39 PM
- I wonder if the Israelis are about to annoy the Iranians? (n/t) - Gary - 9/22/2004 3:16:42 AM
  - Could be. I am hoping that it will be an attack against the LEADERSHIP of Iran instead of its nuclear facilities. - David F Mayer - 9/22/2004 5:28:07 AM
    - Think there might be any side effects from an attack like that? (n/t) - alcaray - 9/22/2004 3:20:29 PM
  - Whoa...good call. Maybe you're right. (n/t) - Tom Brosz - 9/22/2004 3:54:51 AM
- Excellent news. This will enable Israel to strike at underground bunkers and tunnels. Thanks for the info. (n/t) - David F Mayer - 9/22/2004 1:21:12 AM
- That will help a lot with those Syrian WMDs, as well give the PLO/Hammas terrorists something to think about in their tunnels. (n/t) - ebnelson - 9/22/2004 12:29:58 AM

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