Lebanon turning into a hot spot - Isreali incursions into their airspace today

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17 years 7 months

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Not seeing this on the news yet. Should be over the intelligence work by Isreali agents finding out Syria is shuttling SA-2 weapons to Hezbollah. Anyone else seeing news on it yet?

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18 years 3 months

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Not seeing this on the news yet. Should be over the intelligence work by Isreali agents finding out Syria is shuttling SA-2 weapons to Hezbollah. Anyone else seeing news on it yet?

Not only obsolete but also a rather large thing to smuggle to Hezbollah an SA-2 battery.

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14 years 9 months

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If the Israelis can't handle SA-2's then the Iranians would rip them to shreds in any attack.

...And almost no NATO airforce would survive any conflict with a modern rival.

My main point is that these things are old and obsolete.

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17 years 7 months

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SA-2's can be force fired and manually fused. And they have changed about twenty times over the years. The SA-2's that live on today are not the same as the ones used in the skies of Vietnam. Plus its not always military targets they can be used upon. Isreal can and will be concerned.

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15 years 10 months

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SA-2's can be force fired and manually fused. And they have changed about twenty times over the years. The SA-2's that live on today are not the same as the ones used in the skies of Vietnam. Plus its not always military targets they can be used upon. Isreal can and will be concerned.

They can be used as surface to surface rockets as well.

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24 years 2 months

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They can be used as surface to surface rockets as well.

Not really. The SA-2 system is still useful, because it has an optical guideance system and pose a constant threat by that in the fine-weather conditions of the ME.

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20 years 6 months

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Finding more excuses for a new invasion? ;)

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14 years 6 months

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Not really. The SA-2 system is still useful, because it has an optical guideance system and pose a constant threat by that in the fine-weather conditions of the ME.

But they are really amazingly big, clumsy, hard to move and to hide. A perfect target I say. Not something Hezbollah would want in my opinion.

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24 years 2 months

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But they are really amazingly big, clumsy, hard to move and to hide. A perfect target I say. Not something Hezbollah would want in my opinion.

It is a political weapon in that case. They can claim to have the ability to bring down an Israeli recce asset, when violating the Lebanese air-space. Under favorable conditions it could be a one time achievement really. In that case it is enough to bolster the credibility of Hezbollah claims in the mind of the own supporters. Nothing more and nothing less.
Here in a military transport without a tarpaulin.
http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/SA-2_Guideline_towed_by_a_ZIL-131_trcuk.JPEG/180px-SA-2_Guideline_towed_by_a_ZIL-131_trcuk.JPEG&imgrefurl=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftstreitkr%25C3%25A4fte_der_Nationalen_Volksarmee&usg=__vG5J15J-ajl0y0wTESw7FyVuCSE=&h=119&w=180&sz=7&hl=de&start=29&um=1&tbnid=jLWcHUAW0pODLM:&tbnh=67&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ds-75%2Bwolchow%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Dde%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1
Here is another way to transport the same thing in a more civilian manner.
Not allowed to do so by military rules, but I am not sure if that will pose a headache to Hezbollah in doing it that way.
http://www.lang-machines.com/produktbilder/0709_LKW_TIEFLADER_STAPLER_03.JPG

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16 years 9 months

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Not really. The SA-2 system is still useful, because it has an optical guideance system and pose a constant threat by that in the fine-weather conditions of the ME.

Actually later versions of the S-75 (SA-2) have a ground target attack mode. One of the buttons on the control pannel switches it to that mode. The button is called ZEMLYA (which means ground in Russian). In that mode, ground targets of known coordinates can be hit with reasonable accuracy. The range is limited though to 25km.

In Hezbollah's case, the ground attack mode is not very usefull as they have already an arsenal of much cheaper and smaller rockets that can go much further than that.

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24 years 2 months

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Actually later versions of the S-75 (SA-2) have a ground target attack mode. One of the buttons on the control pannel switches it to that mode. The button is called ZEMLYA (which means ground in Russian). In that mode, ground targets of known coordinates can be hit with reasonable accuracy. The range is limited though to 25km.

In Hezbollah's case, the ground attack mode is not very usefull as they have already an arsenal of much cheaper and smaller rockets that can go much further than that.

The curvature of the earth does prevent to hit something below the line of sight. At a distance of 25 km the target has to be at >50 m height already.
Supported by an "Unsha" the minimum engagement height is ~100 m.

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18 years 9 months

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The curvature of the earth does prevent to hit something below the line of sight. At a distance of 25 km the target has to be at >50 m height already.
Supported by an "Unsha" the minimum engagement height is ~100 m.

He said "of known coordinates". I presume it is therefore not limited to line of sight, but behaving like an artillery rocket.

Rather a waste of a SAM, IMO.

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14 years 9 months

Posts: 421

In the unlikely event that an Israeli aircraft does get shot down is that enough for them to go to war?
I presume though that Hezbollah will need to have the guidance radar's and associated equipment. This should make them easy to spot.
What do you need to use the optical guidance? Do you require any of the large equipment apart from the missile and some binoculars.
I'm not sure if i buy this story would they not be better with smaller missiles or MANPADS

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 11,742

In the unlikely event that an Israeli aircraft does get shot down is that enough for them to go to war?
I presume though that Hezbollah will need to have the guidance radar's and associated equipment. This should make them easy to spot.
What do you need to use the optical guidance? Do you require any of the large equipment apart from the missile and some binoculars.
I'm not sure if i buy this story would they not be better with smaller missiles or MANPADS

No. The burst-radius of the SA-2 warhead is over 125 meters and the 'Fan Song' 'doghouse' with the optical tracking equipement is on a trailer. The intended "political blow" is similar to that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Hanit

None have to think of a stationary SAM-site in ordinary layout to fulfill a military task with that. It is more like a trap set up for a choosen day to trigger the desired political signal from that. The military damage will be limited, but the political one will be manyfold for sure.
A manpad with limited ceiling could engage an UAV, when Israeli fighters are equipped to overcome or survive a manpad hit, like it did the INS Hanit in the end.

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14 years 6 months

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In the unlikely event that an Israeli aircraft does get shot down is that enough for them to go to war?

Yes, if it's a civil aircraft. Shouldn't if it's a military one, but probably will be enough anyway...