LARGE SCALE IRANIAN AIR FORCE EXERCISE SIMULATES ATTACK ON ISRAEL
OCT 16 2008
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the drill beginning
Thursday, Oct. 16 in northern Iran, is Tehran’s rejoinder to Israel’s big
aerial maneuver last June.
Then, more than 100 Israeli fighter-bombers went through their paces over the
Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, roughly the same distance from Israel as Iran.
Tehran’s media claim the exercise will test its air force’s ability to fly to
Israel and back without refueling.
The exercise will also test the US-made FBX-T band anti-missile radar system
delivered in September and installed at the IAF Nevatim air base in the Negev.
The Iranians say they will be practicing their “state-of-the-art military
equipment and flight tactics,” meaning an attempt to jam US and Israeli
electronics and radar.
According to Iranian media, the entire range of Iran's fighter fleet will take
part, including US-made F-4, F-5, F-7 and F-14 fighters and domestic Saegheh
fighters. Mid-air refueling will be provided by Boeing 707 aerial tankers.
In mid-August, Iran's Air Force chief, Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani,
maintained that its antiquated fighter jet fleet had been overhauled and
upgraded to fly distances of 3,000 kilometers without refueling. That would be
more than double the distance between Iran and Israel.
That is why Tabriz, in Azerbaijan, at the northwestern corner of Iran, was
picked as the starting point of the exercise. The official communiqué said the
planes would be flying from air fields in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz and Hamadan
and Dezful.
Our military sources say that this means that the entire maneuver will take
place over Iran and not venture out its air space. The planes will have to fly
to Tabriz from bases in the south near the Pakistan border in order to
replicate the more than 1,200 km distance between Iran and Israel.
The Iranian Air force also aims at deploying more than 100 warplanes for the
exercise, matching the number Israel used in its maneuver four months ago.
Tehran has timed this large-scale drill for just three weeks before the US
presidential election on Nov. 4, in response to speculation rife in the West
that Israel may use the window between the US election and the swearing-in of
the new president in January for an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
The Iranians aim to show they have a first and second strike capability - not
just with ballistic missiles but also by aerial attack.
Prophecy News - End times Prophecy News for Russia, China, Iran, Bush, World, America, Iraq, Syria, North Korea,
 |
||
|
PLEASE SIGN UP AND ADD THESE FREE ADVERTISERS TO YOUR SITE |
||
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Please rate this site at Just4Christ Top 50 Christian Sites |
|
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
 |
||
