Article

2011-12-08 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Eye witnesses claim unusual movement of Israeli missiles

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Posted by Steve White 2011-12-08 08:46|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 The Jericho's are nuclear, right? They don't have a conventional warhead option do they? Quick glance at Wikipedia (for what that's worth) doesn't mention one.

Posted by Laurence of the Rats 2011-12-08 10:25|| 2011-12-08 10:25|| Front Page Top

#2 And yes, moving these anywhere near population would be silly, if only for the phone call targeting aspect.

Posted by Laurence of the Rats 2011-12-08 10:27|| 2011-12-08 10:27|| Front Page Top

#3 Wasn't there a related story about germany loaning isreal a radar setup, so one could be repaired?

Posted by flash91 2011-12-08 10:27|| 2011-12-08 10:27|| Front Page Top

#4 Seems to be a standard ME strategy, locate weapons that might be targeted in high-value civilian agencies. An air assault to take out the Jerico will probably have collateral damage to the neighborhood.

Can the missile payload be discharged without launch?

Posted by Skidmark 2011-12-08 10:31|| 2011-12-08 10:31|| Front Page Top

#5 The radar loan was for the Patriot anti-air/anti-missile system, not for Jericho. I doubt the Germans would help the Israelis with a nuclear-tipped offensive missile.

Posted by Steve White 2011-12-08 12:21|| 2011-12-08 12:21|| Front Page Top

#6 The only movement I expect from Israeli missles is that they go up....and then they come down at the appropriate points.

Posted by AlanC 2011-12-08 13:01|| 2011-12-08 13:01|| Front Page Top

#7 This is actually likely. The Jericho installation has been heavily targeted for attack, though likely from Syria, with Russian weapons, instead of directly from Iran, as a preemptive attack before they launch on the rest of Israel.

So dispersing missiles is the same strategy as the US used with its MX missiles, but closer to what the Soviets did with their truck mounted equivalents. The disadvantage is that this class of missile has a limited range.

Importantly, Israel is upgrading from its Jericho II missiles, which are likely the ones being moved, to Jericho III missiles, which are probably too large to launch except from a launch site. JII's can carry a 1MT nuke, so they still pack a hell of a wallop.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-12-08 13:42|| 2011-12-08 13:42|| Front Page Top

#8 This seemed highly unlikely at first read but then I decided it was a brilliant defensive move and very calculated. Putting nukes into the West Bank would protect them and having multiple eyewitnesses makes sure the entire ME knows it. And it would take the Israelis a lot less than 3 hours-- Assad would never know what hit him. However, Dinnerjacket has agents worldwide that worry me more and retaliation could be anywhere, including US.

Posted by Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2011-12-08 13:52|| 2011-12-08 13:52|| Front Page Top

#9 Er, Why does Israel need a missile that can hit southern America?

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2011-12-08 17:04|| 2011-12-08 17:04|| Front Page Top

#10 To get even with Argentina for hiding Eichmann. /snark

Posted by Canuckistan sniper 2011-12-08 18:06|| 2011-12-08 18:06|| Front Page Top

#11 Just having this story in the press reduces the potential value in a Muslim first strike as they would not know how much of the Israeli missiles would be put out of action.

Securing these things all over the place though would be hard to do. So, if true or not, it is clear that the game is afoot as it were.

Posted by rammer 2011-12-08 18:10|| 2011-12-08 18:10|| Front Page Top

#12 For the last 5 years, reports of pending IDF attacks on Iran have flowed. IT never happened under GWB; BHO is even more reluctant to pre-empt the inevitable placement of nuclear tipped ICBMs aimed at the US homeland. There might be some credible intelligence viz Hizbollah release of some of the 20,000 missiles that they hold in Lebanon. In Israel's last infantry advance, they lost 29 of their best tanks. The next war will involve WMD. And the sooner the better in my opinion.

Posted by Threse Closing5130 2011-12-08 18:57|| 2011-12-08 18:57|| Front Page Top

#13 And then they lived happily ever after. The end.

Posted by crosspatch 2011-12-08 23:28|| 2011-12-08 23:28|| Front Page Top

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