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| Israel-Palestine |
| IDF won’t use artillery against Kassams - senior officer |
| 2004-07-02 |
| EFL from Jerusalem Post "There is no reason or need to fire artillery into urban areas," said Brig.-Gen. Dani Kassif, the IDF’s chief artillery officer. "It doesn’t matter how bad the situation deteriorates, as long as it is not a total war, there is not need to use cannons." Kassif spoke to The Jerusalem Post about the role of the artillery in the conflict with the Palestinians. Following the lethal Kassam rocket attack on Sderot this week, a number of readers and other voices called for the IDF to reply in kind with artillery or mortar barrages. "People are always asking the question why has the IDF decided not to use artillery. I think there is no reason to decide otherwise," Kassif said. "I know if we fired artillery we wouldn’t hit just the mortar [firing at Israel], but also hit other people in the area." Kassif sardonically bemoaned the loss of the Lebanon front four years ago since it was the last place the corps could show off its firepower. Artillery is still being used there during periodic exchanges of fire with Hizbullah, but on a much smaller scale than before. "In the Lebanon period we knew how to cope with the Katyusha rockets. It wasn’t 100 percent, but we developed methods of striking them and getting warnings," Kassif said. "But with the Kassam rockets, even if I locate them and can hit them, I don’t want to reach a situation where I use this kind of weaponry. It’s not worth it and don’t forget that [a Kassam] is really nothing but a pipe," he said. He said that the main problem was not locating where the Kassam’s were launched, but developing ways of striking them quickly. That, he claimed, was where the IDF has made great leaps forward in the past few years. There is nothing available in the world that could shoot down Kassam rockets, Kassif said. This is mainly because they are too primitive and do not reach the altitude in which sophisticated defense systems developed to shoot down incoming missiles operated. The focus is now to close the loop between detection and offensive action, like tank fire and attack helicopters to hit the Kassams on the ground before they can be launched. A senior officer briefing military reporters in the Gaza Strip Wednesday said that it took about 15 minutes for a Kassam team to set up a rocket with a timer. On the heights west of Sderot are surveillance radar systems like the TPQ, which tracks incoming mortar and Kassam rockets, as well as the "Nagmapoop," a modified APC that lifts a thermal camera high into the sky that gazes non-stop into the Gaza Strip to hunt for Kassam rocket crews and other guerrillas. Kassif is aware of the need to justify the artillery corps in an age when many believe warfare is changing and the classic battles involving heavy artillery barrages may be a thing of the past. The army has retrained its artillery units for fighting low intensity warfare in the territories. Now a typical unit will have snipers and machine gunners and be trained in infantry warfare, something unheard of in the past. "This has not been simple," Kassif said in an interview at the Tze’elim training grounds. "There is a difference between being taught to fire a cannon and then being put into a situation where their entire mission is to use their personal weapon... We have to be able to get off of our cannons and perform as an infantry battalion, and then when called upon return to the cannons. The Americans are finding that this is not so simple. We are already there," he said. "The Americans have understood that to prepare a force for service in Iraq they have to train them in the same things we have been dealing with, like manning roadblocks and policing actions," Kassif said. The way the IDF artillery corps operates now is for its forces to be deployed in the territories, but be able to be choppered up to the Hermon if needed. Just last week, that was the scenario that took place when tensions rose with Hizbullah. Looking to the future role of the artillery corps in low-intensity conflicts, Kassif said artillery rounds have to be made more accurate and even less deadly. "We have to look for non-lethal artillery shells that can be used in urban areas that causes different kinds of damage but doesn’t kill anyone," Kassif said. "I’ll leave that concept up to your imagination." |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #2 idotic guy the only way media will not have a complete bias against Israel is if they respond directly to an attack. |
| Posted by: Anonymous5388 2004-07-02 5:04:08 PM |
| #1 A senior officer briefing military reporters in the Gaza Strip Wednesday said that it took about 15 minutes for a Kassam team to set up a rocket with a timer. On the heights west of Sderot are surveillance radar systems like the TPQ, which tracks incoming mortar and Kassam rockets, as well as the "Nagmapoop," a modified APC that lifts a thermal camera high into the sky that gazes non-stop into the Gaza Strip to hunt for Kassam rocket crews and other guerrillas. This is sort of odd in light of how Israel was a primary developer of UAVs. One would think they'd just have a few hovering at a nice altitude with high resolution thermal imaging to detect launch exhaust plumes and pinpoint some counter battery fire. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-02 11:07:54 AM |