Missile Interception Continues Escalation of Tensions Between Israel and Syria.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) reports that Israeli Patriot missile batteries have engaged and downed an unspecified Syrian Air Force Sukhoi attack aircraft. The incident happened on Tuesday Jul. 24 afternoon local time in Israel at the northeastern border with Syria near the Israeli town of Safed.

Reports indicate the Patriot missile battery that downed the Syrian aircraft was inside Safed, Israel, but that the aircraft actually crashed within Syrian borders. The Syrian media has confirmed that one of their aircraft has crashed but maintains it was operating within Syrian airspace. Safed, Israel is only 43 miles from Daraa, Syria across a disputed border territory.

#BREAKING: #Israel launches 2 Patriot missile over Golan Heights against a Syrian fighter jet; The fighter jet has been intercepted pic.twitter.com/ITVxnA3Dn4

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 24, 2018

At this hour, it remains unclear if the aircraft downed was a Syrian Su-22 (NATO reporting name “Fitter”) or a Syrian Su-24 (NATO reporting name “Fencer”) according to the IDF. Syria has not specified the type of aircraft lost yet. Both of the aircraft use variable geometry swept wings or “swing wings” and are large ground attack aircraft difficult for laymen to differentiate visually from the ground, even though the nose of the aircraft are distinctly different.

Syria has lost Su-24s to Israeli air defense systems before. An Israeli MIM-104D Patriot missile battery engaged and downed a Syrian Su-24 on September 23, 2014 near Quneitra, Syria, after the aircraft strayed only 800 meters into Israeli airspace in the Golan Heights. That aircraft also crashed inside Syrian airspace after both crew members successfully ejected. Quneitra is considered Syrian territory by many, but was lost to the Israelis in the a succession of border conflicts and remains disputed although claimed by Syria.

Earlier this year on March 18, 2018, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported that a Syrian Su-24 had been shot down by Syrian Jaysh Tahrir al-Sham rebels over the Eastern Qalamoon mountains in Syria.

Israeli Defense Forces have reported an increase in Syrian air activity in this border region throughout the morning according to official Israeli sources.
“We have passed a number of messages, in a number of languages, in order to ensure that no one violates Israeli air space,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters.

The Times of Israel quoted Israel’s former Military Intelligence Director Amos Yadlin as saying, “Israel has a very clear policy: No plane, and certainly not a Syrian plane, is allowed to enter our airspace without the appropriate authorization. Any plane identified as an enemy plane is shot down.”

Top image: Smoke trails from the launch of Israeli Patriot missiles seen on July 24, 2018 where Syrian aircraft was downed and Patriot missile battery (Photo: David Cohen/Flash90 and IDF)

It looks like two Saudi Patriots failed tonight…

Saudi Patriot PAC-2 SAM battery in Riyadh fired MIM-104C Surface to Air Missiles at a Burkan 2-H SRBM (Short Range Ballistic Missile) in the night between Mar 25 and 26, 2018.

The SRBM was reportedly intercepted by one of the SAMs (at least 7 according to journalist Babak Taghvaee were launched) but at least two of them failed: one hit a resindential area (at the time of writing the number of casualties/fatalities is unknown), whereas another one exploded mid-air shortly after launch.

Videos of the two malfunctioning MIM-104Cs are emerging on Twitter.

Here’s the first one:

#BREAKING – First footage of #Saudi Arabian patriot missile failure and hitting capital city of Riyadh after failed attempt at intercepting a #Yemeni ballistic missile. pic.twitter.com/w7UBSvmZTb https://t.co/6gWdjPrubT

— SURA (@AlSuraEnglish) March 25, 2018

From another angle:

#Sondakika

Suudi başkenti Riyadh da büyük patlama meydana geldi. pic.twitter.com/qSwwowoVOU

— Son Kale Türkiye (@SonKaleTurkiye2) March 25, 2018

Here’s the second one:

This video shows the second failed MIM-104C Surface to Air missile was exploded mid-air few seconds after launch over the #SaudiArabia Air Defense Force Patriot PAC-2 SAM battery at Riyadh. #Houthi‘s Burkan 2-H SRBM was successfully shot-down by one of surviving five MIM-104Cs. pic.twitter.com/o5cbEtKEVs

— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) March 25, 2018

H/T @M3t4_tr0n and @jetcitystar for the heads up

Ballistic Missile Fired by Houthi Rebels Showers Arab Capital with Debris.

Houthi rebels inside Yemen have claimed responsibility for a short range ballistic missile attack against the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Nov. 4. An announcement made on social media from Houthi rebels inside Yemen claimed that King Khalid International Airport was the intended target for the missile strike on Saturday night.

The Houthi ballistic missile, a Burkan H-2 according to media sources across the Middle East, is a mobile short-range ballistic missile armed with a conventional 500-kilogram warhead. In some variants, the missile can carry a nuclear warhead. The missile is roughly similar to the Scud missiles used by Iraq during the Gulf wars.

The Burkan H-2 was intercepted by a Saudi anti-missile defense system, likely a U.S. supplied Raytheon MIM-104 Patriot anti-missile system. The Saudis also employ the Raytheon Improved Hawk air defense system, primarily for defense against aircraft. The Saudis have new THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense) anti-missile systems on order from the U.S. but have not yet received the more advanced system.

The following video allegedly shows the anti-missile defense system at work during the attack.

According to information published on Al Arabiya, an official spokesman for the coalition forces in support of legitimacy inside Yemen, the anti-Houthi government of Yemen, Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that, “At 8:07 pm local time a rocket was fired from within the territory of Yemen towards the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

In the official Yemeni government media statement made Saturday Colonel al-Maliki went on to say, “The rocket was aimed at the capital of Riyadh and was launched indiscriminately and absurdly to target the civilian and populated areas, where it was intercepted and the fragments fell in an uninhabited area east of King Khalid International Airport.”

The official Yemeni government has been at war with the Houthi rebellion inside Yemen since June 2004. The Houthi ballistic missile attack against Saudi Arabia from inside a rebel controlled area of Yemen is in retaliation for Saudi support of the Yemeni government. The Saudi support of the Yemeni government began in 2015.

On October 27, 2017, the Houthi’s claimed to have shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon multirole aircraft over the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a. It was the second time the Saudis lost a Typhoon over Yemen during Operation Decisive Storm, the Saudi-led air campaign against the Houthis inside Yemen.

Arab news outlets report a similar missile strike was launched from Houthi controlled territory toward Saudi Arabia on October 30. The missile fell far short of its intended target in Saudi Arabia, landing inside Yemen after a possible malfunction.

Al Masirah, a TV network run by the Houthi rebels, also claimed responsibility for the attack on their social media account.

Top image: combo from Social Media posts (via Arab News)

On Nov. 6, the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) successfully achieved an unprecedented dual intercept test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

The  MEADS is a next generation, ground mobile Air and Missile Defense system made of  360-degree MEADS Surveillance Radar, a networked MEADS battle manager, two lightweight launchers firing PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) Missiles and a 360-degree MEADS Multifunction Fire Control Radar (MFCR)

The MEADS battery hit and destroyed two simultaneous targets (QF-4 drone and MGM-52 lance missile) attacking from opposite directions during the test.

Related articles

• Lockheed tests new Stealth Long Range Anti-Ship Missile from Vertical Launch System
• Russia and India extend BrahMos supersonic cruise missile partnership
• [Video] Iranian F-4 Phantom testing Qader air-to-surface missile
• Israel scrambled F-15 fighter jets against multiple airspace violations by unknown drones
• Iran has unveiled two new indigenous air-to-surface missiles
• [Targeting Pod Footage] Colombian Kfir fighter jets intercept Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers
• Lockheed Martin releases new High Speed Strike Weapon hypersonic missile concept image

Several news agencies are quoting the Japanese Kyodo by saying that one of the Musudan missile launch vehicles has moved its missile into the firing position.

The North Korean authorities had moved several (launchers) to the country’s eastern coast which puts the medium range missiles with a range of 3,500km (2,180 miles) within striking range of several high profile targets including US bases on the islands of Guam.

The BM-25 Musudan which is also know by the names Taepodong X, Nodong/Rondong-B and Mirim is transported by an erector/launcher MAZ-574A/MAZ-7916 which is very similar to a Scud launcher.

It’s thought that the Musudan is not structurally sound enough to be transported whilst being fueled so the missile would need to be fueled once in its launch position.

The Musuadan uses a liquid propelant, the Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, as fuel with inhibited red fuming nitric acid as an oxidizer. As this cocktail does not vaporise, then the missile can be fueled and kept in the launch position for days or even weeks.

So the missile being in this position does not necessarily mean an imminent launch is about to take place. In fact, it could be another attempt by the North Koreans to confuse foreign intelligence agencies and U.S. spyplanes, as done by moving missiles into and out of warehouses to make counting and accurate movement analysis harder.

All of this comes three days after Japanese authorities deployed several Patriot missile batteries around the Tokyo area and gave military forces orders to shoot down any North Korean missile that is likely to hit Japanese territory.

In the meanwhile, the U.S. floating Sea-based X-band Radar previously stationed at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, is now in place to detect any possible missile launches by North Korea.  85 meters (280 feet) tall and mounted atop a platform similar to an oil rig, is supposed to detect missiles over a range of at least 2,000 kilometres.

David Cenciotti has contributed to this post

Image credit: Boeing

Related articles

• All the intelligence gathering planes spying on North Korea’s imminent missile launch
• How the U.S. Navy and Air Force will Watch North Korea’s Next Missile Launch
• [Map] Here’s the North Korean Air Force order of battle
• This is what an (unlikely) Air War in North Korea would look like