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New IDF Strategy to Focus on Missiles
(Al-Monitor) Ben Caspit - The air force is viewed as Israel's strategic arm and its most effective instrument of deterrence. The missions and sorties the Israeli air force had accomplished in two weeks of fighting in the Second Lebanon War can now be carried out in a 24-hour timeframe. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is now working to add a new dimension - a "smart" missile-rocket military arm - to counterbalance Hizbullah's rocket arsenal and Syrian President Assad's renewed missile capabilities. Since modern antiaircraft batteries are becoming increasingly sophisticated and the main target of Hizbullah's missiles in the next war will be Israel's air force bases, "the luxury of having an air force that operates freely and almost without being threatened is ending soon," a senior Israeli military source said. "They won't be able to neutralize the air force but they can make it difficult for us." Lieberman said, "We absolutely must have an alternative to the air force. We can't afford to put all our eggs into one basket, no matter how sophisticated that basket may be." Another military source said, "Not every target in Lebanon or Syria requires a pilot that took us three years to train, in a jet that cost $200 million....A missile or rocket costs much less and...there is no pilot to be taken prisoner." A senior army source said, "The time has come for us to implement surgical, lethal and precise capabilities without sending planes into the air."