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Israel's Tammuz Missile Helps Defend Northern Frontier

(Times of Israel) Mitch Ginsburg - The IDF artillery corps has swelled in size by 30% over the past four years. Aside from operating the portable, man-launched Skylark UAVs for infantry troops and the see-shoot network of radars, it has switched its focus to guided rockets - a shift that began during the Second Lebanon War. Israel has responded to recent cross-border fire on the Golan Heights on at least four occasions - each time with a Tammuz missile. A GPS-equipped, operator-guided, Non-Line of Sight missile, the Tammuz can be mounted on an armored personnel carrier, or even transported by foot into the field. With a maximum range of 25 km., it is the flagship weapon of the artillery corps. Col. Benny Beit-Or, an engineer who had served as the head of weapons development for IDF ground forces, conceived the notion of a unit of tank-hunting troops equipped with long-range missiles able to hit a moving target. The idea was to counteract Syria's quantitative superiority in armor. The Tammuz is a weapon that can "attack in a super accurate way, without causing unintended damage, especially as terror operates within a civilian environment," said Lt. Col. A, commander of the Meitar unit that operates the missiles. The Tammuz was like an attack helicopter, "with the only difference being that they have to go up in the air and then push a button and we just have to push the button," the commander of the unit said. Today, according to military sources, the Golan Heights are to a large extent being guarded by Tammuz missile operators, allowing Israel to protect its border with Syria without amassing armor, and enabling decision-makers to return fire into Syria without mistakenly hitting the wrong target.
2013-08-23 00:00:00
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