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| Middle East |
| Israel: Sensitive IAI missile launch recorded by Channel 10 |
| 2003-11-06 |
| Hat tip to Drudge Israel Aircraft Industries was frantically engaged in damage control yesterday after an unprecedented security lapse allowed a Channel 10 television technician to capture an internal screening of a secret missile test via an ordinary satellite dish. The technician said that he captured the unencrypted footage via an ordinary household dish with a one-meter diameter - the kind owned by the tens of thousands in Israel and by millions throughout the Middle East. Thus, as Channel 10’s military correspondent, Alon Ben David, noted, the intelligence services of any hostile country could have captured the film the same way. Anybody believe they didn’t know this was going out? How about a veiled warning to Tehran and the blackhats? After the initial shock, IAI officials tried to portray the slip-up as less serious than it seemed. "This a completely unclassified project," IAI’s security officer, Naor Zeidman, told Haaretz. "We do dozens of missile tests. So what? You don’t run to the media with every test. We don’t even have a customer for this missile. Had this been anything connected to the Israel Defense Forces, I assure you that there would have been IDF encryption on [footage of] the launch." But despite the denials, senior defense officials exerted massive pressure on Channel 10 in an effort to stop it from screening the footage. Moreover, after Ben David asked the defense establishment for comment, IAI was immediately ordered to shut down its internal television network. And, despite the fact that the project was "unclassified," the military censor demanded that Ben David’s report be sent to it for approval. According to Ben David, the censor nixed significant portions of the report, including anything that could have identified the missile or revealed technical details such as its range and flight path. In a terse statement released yesterday, IAI said that it "fired a long-range and accurate artillery projectile in a test conducted off the coast of Israel. Not all the goals of the test were achieved." It added that the projectile was developed on the assumption that there is a global market for an accurate, long-range weapon. Malam, the IAI division that conducted the test, is also the maker of the Arrow anti-missile missile, the Shavit satellite launcher and, according to foreign reports, the Jericho surface-to-surface missile. The incident began on Monday, when the Channel 10 technician, doing a routine scan of all frequencies broadcast via Israel’s Amos satellite, captured some unusual pictures that were being broadcast live. The pictures resembled control-room activity before a missile launch and appeared to have been transmitted from one control room to another. However, the technician was unable to capture footage from the second source, as that was encrypted. The technician called Ben David, who advised the technician to monitor that frequency continuously. Over the next 48 hours, Channel 10 thus filmed all the launch preparations plus the tests themselves - which took place over the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday and yesterday mornings. The missile, which was supposed to hit its target within three minutes, went wild after two minutes and fell into the sea. The presence at the launch of high-level officials - including CEO Moshe Keret, Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazy and commander of the ground forces Major General Yiftah Ron Tal - seems to indicate that the defense establishment had high hopes for the missile. Zeidman, however, said that senior IDF officers are invited to all such tests, in the hopes that the army can be persuaded to buy. Today, IAI will begin investigating the lapse. According to Zeidman, Malam was responsible for all the arrangements. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #5 ROFLMAO!!! Oh shit, coffee spew! I just LOVES Dr Science! (http://www.ducksbreath.com/index.htm Check out the Real Audio of his radio programs... Remember, he knows more than you do!) |
| Posted by: .com (RoPMA) 2003-11-6 6:16:54 PM |
| #4 Consider... The Israelis launch all their satellites going into the wind. This gives the Zionist satellite program an ungodly anti-rotation, makes it easy to hide in the glare of the sun. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-11-6 5:35:55 PM |
| #3 I think the Nielsen ratings there were low, but the focus group intended got it |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-11-6 4:41:56 PM |
| #2 Was it viewed by people in Damascus and Tehran? If so, good. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-11-6 4:29:15 PM |
| #1 "Missile? What missile? That was a...a...ummm...Look! Over there! It's William Shatner!" :: flees :: |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2003-11-6 4:17:46 PM |