Les Etats Unis ont installé un radar antimissile en Israël

Les Etats Unis ont installé un radar antimissile en Israël

JERUSALEM - Les Etats Unis ont installé récemment en Israël un radar anti-missile, destiné principalement à avertir de tirs de missiles balistiques iraniens, a rapporté dimanche la radio publique israélienne.

Le radar, d’une porté de plus de 2.000 km, a été installé dans le désert du Néguev, dans le sud d’Israël, a précisé la radio.

Il est manoeuvré par une équipe de 120 membres de l’armée américaine, installés en permanence, selon cette source.

Le porte-parole du ministère de la Défense, interrogé par l’AFP, a toutefois déclaré "n’avoir pas connaissance d’un tel déploiement".

Le secrétaire américain à la Défense, Robert Gates avait accepté d’étudier le déploiement d’un tel radar en Israël, avait indiqué fin juillet un haut responsable du Pentagone.

"L’idée est d’aider Israël à créer une capacité de défense antimissile à plusieurs niveaux pour le protéger de toutes sortes de menaces dans la région, proche et lointaine", avait déclaré le responsable.

Outre le radar, le secrétaire américain à la Défense avait envisagé de partager des données sur les alertes de lancement de missiles, selon cette source.

Les Etats-Unis ont déjà déployé ce type de radars - capable de détecter la tête d’un missile à longue ou moyenne portée dans l’espace - au Japon, et prévoient d’en installer une version plus puissante en République tchèque.

Le chef d’état-major de l’armée israélienne, le général Gaby Ashkenazi, s’était rendu à Washington courant juillet où il avait souligné que son pays devait "se préparer à toutes les options" pour freiner le programme nucléaire iranien.

Le ministre de la défense Ehud Barak lui avait emboîté le pas à la fin juillet.

28 septembre 2008 06h36

http://www.romandie.com/infos/News2/080928043651.r82rv9gy.asp

EuCom deploys radar, troops to Israel

By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer

Posted : Saturday Sep 27, 2008 7:18:28 EDT

U.S. European Command has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent U.S. military presence on Israeli soil.

More than a dozen aircraft, including C-5s and C-17s, helped with the Sept. 21 delivery of the AN/TPY-2 Transportable Radar Surveillance/Forward Based X-band Transportable, its ancillary components and some 120 EuCom personnel to Israel’s Nevatim Air Base southeast of Beersheba, said sources here and in Stuttgart, Germany.

Among the U.S. personnel is at least one representative from the Missile Defense Agency, although officials said the agency had little to no say in the deployment decision. MDA involvement has been confined to providing equipment and advice on technical aspects of its deployment, one official said.

The Raytheon-built FBX-T system is the same phased-array radar that was deployed to northern Japan with the U.S. Pacific Air Forces in 2006. The high-powered, high-frequency, transportable X-band radar is designed to detect and track ballistic missiles soon after launch.

Its ancillary gear included cooling systems, generators, perimeter defense weaponry, logistics supplies and dozens of technicians, maintenance specialists and security forces to operate and defend the U.S. installation.

EuCom has repeatedly deployed troops and Patriot air defense batteries for joint exercises and Iraq-related wartime contingencies but has never before permanently deployed troops on Israeli soil.

A EuCom spokesman declined to comment. MDA officials referred to the U.S. State Department, which did not provide comment Friday.

An Israeli military spokesman said the Israel Defense Forces enjoys long-standing strategic cooperation with all branches of the U.S. military.

“This cooperation is varied and comes in multiple forms, and it is not our practice to discuss details of our bilateral activities,” he said.

Nevertheless, in previous interviews, U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed that the X-band deployment plan was approved in July, first by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ; and then by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Shaving minutes from reaction time

The radar will be linked to the U.S. Joint Tactical Ground Station, which receives and processes threat data transmitted by U.S. Defense Support System satellites. According to U.S. and Israeli sources, JTAGS will remain in Europe, but its essential cueing data will stream into the forward-deployed X-band radar, where it instantaneously shares information with Israel’s Arrow Weapon System.

Once operational, the combined U.S. and Israeli system is expected to double or even triple the range at which Israel can detect, track and ultimately intercept Iranian missiles, according to Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of the MDA.

During a visit to Israel in early August, Obering said the X-Band radar could add precious minutes to the time in which Israel has to respond to incoming missile attacks.

“The missile threat from Iran is very real, and we must stay ahead of the threat ... that’s why we’re working so hard with all our allies to put the most optimized, effective, anti-missile capabilities in place,” Obering said.

“In the context of Israel, if we can take the radar out here and tie it into the Arrow Weapon System, they’ll be able to launch that interceptor way before they could with an autonomous system,” he added.

Brig. Gen. Ilan Biton of the Israel Air Force reserves, a former commander of the nation’s air defense forces, could not comment on the latest developments associated with the X-band radar. However, he said that an IAF air defense brigade established during his 2003-06 tenure has continuously demonstrated its ability to interoperate well with American forces.

“We advanced tremendously on multiple levels and have developed very impressive cooperation,” Biton said at a Sept. 22 conference in Herzliya. Referring to bilateral Juniper Cobra air defense exercises and the 2003 deployment of Patriot batteries prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Biton noted, “At the human level, we’ve developed a common language and at the technical level, we’ve put in place the interfaces that allow our systems to speak to one another.”

The end result, according to Biton, is a combined ability “to manage battles, execute debriefs and implement corrections, all in real time.”...........

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/defense_xband_092608/