(Defense News) Barbara Opall-Rome - The Israel Air Force (IAF) is revamping air operations to support a 10-fold increase in the number of targets it can detect and destroy, Brig. Gen. Amikam Norkin, the Air Force's chief of air operations, said in an interview. The aim is to shorten the duration of future wars. Perhaps the biggest driver of the Expanding Attack Capacity (EAC) program is significant improvements in sensor-to-shooter capabilities. By mating persistent intelligence collection with precision weapons, the IAF expects to generate an exponential number of new, time-sensitive targets during each day of future fights. Norkin noted that the 1,500 targets attacked in Israel's November 2012, eight-day operation in Gaza doubled the number of targets attacked in the 34-day 2006 Lebanon War. Despite the destruction of 120 rocket launchers in the last Lebanon war, Norkin said the IDF realizes it can no longer waste time and assets going after individual launchers. Under the new concept, Israel will focus on "hurting the enemy where it hurts the most," Norkin said, referring to leadership, commanders and significant war-fighting assets. "We need to push [the enemy] to the point where he doesn't want to shoot his rockets and missiles," he said.
2013-10-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive