Jews advised to leave Iran; the Iron Dome; Gabriel 5; Lizards; Typhoons; Saeqeh Thunderbolt;

Exclusive: Warning letters delivered to thousands of Jewish families in Iran advise them to leave the country without delay (hat tip Michael Travis via email)

The letters, according to DEBKAfile's Iranian sources, have been posted to Jewish families in Tehran (where the community numbers some 13,000), Isfahan (under 2,000) and Shiraz (some 4,000). They are captioned: Danger! Danger! Danger! and tell recipients to try and reach the West with all possible speed. Iranian Jews like the rest of the population face grave danger from impending events, the anonymous writers warn.

Wednesday, Oct. 17, President George W. Bush spoke of World War Three if Iran which seeks to destroy Israel gains a nuclear bomb. He said those who helped the Islamic Republic would be held responsible, a broad hint at Russia and China. (DEBKAFile)

Barak's talks in Washington focus on upgrade of Israel's anti-missile capabilities against Iran, Syria, Hizballah and Palestinians

Ehud Barak, on his first visit to Washington as Israel's defense minister, met Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday night, Oct. 17, and is scheduled to call in at the White House Thursday to meet with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Tuesday, Barak spent many hours talking to defense secretary Robert Gates and Pentagon heads. They agreed to set up a joint team to work on developing a multifaceted missile system for intercepting ballistic missiles from Iran and Syria, including an upgrade of the Arrow anti-missile missile, and the short-range arms fired by Hizballah in last year's Lebanon War and daily by Palestinians in Gaza.

On the same day, Israel's defense chiefs showed prime minister Olmert around the Arrow anti-missile battery unit at Palmachim.

The Iron Dome system which Israel is developing needs another two to three years' work before it is ready to shoot down short-range Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza. Israel reports Hamas efforts to produce Qassam missiles on the West Bank within range of its central heartland.

IAI Unveils Gabriel 5

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is working on a new anti-ship missile designed as a primary armament for naval vessels. With dimensions similar to the Exocet and Harpoon, Gabriel-5 represents the latest member to IAI's Gabriel Missile family of naval attack missiles. The new Gabriel 5 is designed to offer superior performance compared to most contemporary missiles, particularly when employed in littoral waters against sophisticated soft- and hard-kill protected targets.

Hints about a possible existence of such weapon surfaced in the early 2000s, as IAI participated in an international tender to equip the new Singaporean Navy frigates. Eventually Singapore selected the Harpoon missile.

The new Gabriel 5 is design to be superior compared to most contemporary missiles, particularly when employed in littoral waters. It uses an advanced active radar seeker backed by a sophisticated weapon control to optimize operational effectiveness in a target congested battlespace. The missile significantly improves target selectivity capability, especially in littoral waters, typically congested with marine traffic, and interference generating extensive and complex false target signals. As an advanced attack missile Gabriel 5 can penetrate the target's protection, both soft- and hard-kill defenses. It is designed with sophisticated electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) dealing with chaff, advanced decoys and active ECM.

Gabriel 5 is expected to be part of a new offensive and defensive system suite under development at IAI's Missiles and Space division. This new family of weapons will also comprise the Barak-8 wide area, long range air defense missile and multi-mode, a n integrated combat management system and IAI/Elta's multi-function EL/M-2248 MF-STAR shipborne phased array radar system, which Elta claims to be superior to the SPY-1 AEGIS radar

Israel Air Force Orders Elbit System's Lizards

The Israel Air Force (IAF) has selected the Lizard laser-guided bombs from Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT). According to Yoram Shmueli, Joint General Manager of Elbit Systems' Airborne division, the decision to equip the IAF with Lizard represents an important breakthrough for Elbit Systems. Sofar the IAF relied mainly on LGBs supplied by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) LGBs and similar weapons supplied under the US Foreign Military Sales. Elbit Systems has already supplied the Lizard laser-guided bomb kit to several international customers including NATO-member countries. The Lizard guidance kit uses a sophisticated systemdeveloped in-house by Elbit. A spin-off from this technology has also been selected by Boeing for use in the dual-mode laser guided Joint Direct Aattack Munition (JDAM) guided bomb.

Britain to Deliver 72 Typhoons to Saudi-Arabia, Defense Update

The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Government of Saudi Arabia has reached agreement with the UK Government to purchase 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. The agreement follows plans outlined in December 2005 to modernize the Saudi Arabian Air Force. Under the terms of the current agreementthe new Typhoons would replace Tornado ADV fighters and other aircraft currently in service with the Royal Saudi Air Force. (more...)

Saeqeh - Iran's New Thunderbolt

The Iranians flew last week the first two aircraft from the new Azarakhsh (Thunder) fighter family. These fighters were locally built and are based on adaptations of reversed-engineered, modified (twin-tail) American F-5 platforms developed by IRI, the Air Force and Iran's Defense Ministry. The development of the aircraft began in the late 1990s and proceeded through different designs and prototype phases. The current version named Saeqeh (Thunderbolt), represent the second type of the Azarakhsh fighter. The Iranians described these fighters as similar to the American F-18 Hornet. An earlier model was flown for the first time last month at Isfahan. The development of the Azarakhsh was first announced in September 2006.

Other reading:
Captain America Returns, Woman Honor Thyself
Pete Stark: "Bush just likes to blow things up" Daily Kos
IN THE MAIL: Newt Gingrich et al., A Contract with the Earth. It's about "entrepreneurial environmentalism.", Instapundit
Hastert To Announce Retirement As Evidence Mounts Of His Involvement In Cunningham Scandal., Think Progress
Maldives cracks down on foreign clerics, "fundamentalists" in wake of bombings, Jihad Watch
Rev. Fred Phelps’ Flock Says Fred Thompson “Sees Eye To Eye” With Them On Gays, Crooks and Liars
HITLER'S LEGACY: ISLAMIC ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST: -- A transcript of a very informative lecture by Matthias Kuentzel., Volokh Conspiracy
The Last March of the Dinasours, Hugh Hewitt
Hissy Fit -- House Republicans are currently throwing their usual hissy fit over this statement from Pete Stark., Eschaton
People in Glass Houses, 123Beta

Comments

[Debbie]

Butch: I haven't had time to follow up. The report was from DEBKAfile and sometimes they jump the gun on reports. I'll try to find out something.

[Butch]

Debbie,

Do you know if this has been confirmed yet? If so, it has huge implications...