IAF commander: Israel's aerial superiority is in danger
Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan says that amid regional instability, the advanced weaponry acquired by Middle Eastern countries could fall into the hands of terrorists.
By Gili Cohen Tags: IAF IranIsrael Air Force chief Ido Nehushtan said Sunday that Israel's aerial superiority in the Middle East is in danger, since neighboring countries are being equipped with increasingly advanced weaponry which could end up in the hands of terrorists.
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Israel Air Force F-16 taking off on a mission. |
| Photo by: AP |
Speaking at the Annual International Space Conference in Herzliya, Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan said the IAF is facing growing challenges.
"The increasing presence of advanced weaponry in the Middle East poses a challenge to Israel's aerial superiority," he said. "This trend is being aided by Iran and challenges the IAF's aerial superiority, which is the force's key advantage."
Nehushtan said that he is very worried by the situation in Syria. "Syria is a country with a large army and the internal process that it is undergoing increases the danger of weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists."
The IAF chief said that despite Syria's turmoil, it is still purchasing advanced weapons such as planes and anti-missile aircraft worth billions.
"Maintaining aerial superiority has always been an issue of concern to the IAF chief, but more so recently," he stressed.
He added that Hamas and other terror organizations are taking advantage of the current instability in Egypt in order to operate in the Sinai Peninsula.
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Get real.
No total immunity for any involved party no matter what the technology provides...Peace is a better guranteer of safety....
Why does he sell tons of advanced weapons to Israel's enemies?
0 on peace.
I doubt "terrorists" have either skill or money...
"Israel should consider destroying Syrian stock piles of weaponry to prevent it from falling into terrorist's hands. " "democracy and liberty can only be guaranteed by an overwhelming force of arms"
Suppose Syrian airplanes fall into Hizballah hands. They are Soviet planes, inferior to Israel's US made planes. And if Hizballah has a few such planes, they do not have trained pilots for them. In any case, the IDF will destroy them on the ground. In short, this is a nightmare from Lala Land. So why is Nehushtan talking such nonsense? Perhaps he wants an extension as Commander of the Air Force. Netanyahu is looking for somebody willing to attack Iran. Perhaps Nehushtan is making himself acceptable.
Threatened by budget cuts, more like. This is just so much hot air to blackmail the politicians into spending more money. The IAF is so far beyond anything in the neighborhood it's like they were dropped from space.
Israel does not engage those that have made a mockery of its mighty IDF. Hezbollah has done that twice.
Your seige mentality often leads you to behave in ways that are destructive.
is this a veiled call for even more support? How about paying for it yourself Israel? Superiority is costly
The Entebbe thing was just a couple of transports there and back with no resistance. The Iraq reactor thing was just a squadron of jets, there and back with no resistance. That's it. All other IAF missions were local attacks on a guy on a motorcycle or a guy in a car or an apartment buillding, all undefended. How is it that a nation having hundreds of cutting edge fighter planes has never had a real mission?
In fact Lebanon has many anti aircraft missiles - they were mainly taken out during the 2006 war
is has turned you into a whining infant, assuming you weren't one before
Israel should consider destroying Syrian stock piles of weaponry to prevent it from falling into terrorist's hands.
today, just as it always was, democracy and liberty can only be guaranteed by an overwhelming force of arms, and that is especially true when one is facing enemies of civilization itself
A country the size of Israel with its tiny wealth base cannot maintain overwhelming force of arms, unless Schools, Hospitals, Welfare & general infrastructure are reduced from a 3rd World to a 4th World level. Making peace is the only long term solution. I hope your Government realise that before it's too late.
Israel will not attack unless the targets are sitting ducks and we all know Israel loves to attack people. God forbid all those expensive planes never get used. How will they ever bomb people from far away?
Defenseless sitting ducks is far more accurate.
No state should possess military impunity. It's a license for waging aggressive war.
The weaponry is defensive so as long as you don't enter another counties air space you will still have air superiority over Israel
more FEAR to control our lives...
Allowing millions of Arabs to flow into Israel? Indefensible 1967 borders? Israel will never say yes. But Israel will still keep its air superiority. Sure the terrorists might have advanced anti-air capabilities, but IAF air-to-air combat technology and pilot training is second to none, not even to the United States (Israel trounced the USA badly during mock dogfights in '98). Israel will just have to develop knew anti-missile defenses.
Yeah right. 6th most powerful military on the planet with 200 nukes in the closet.