Tel Aviv: The Israeli ministry of defense and the Israeli air force are working to achieve greater cooperation with the US Space Command. One idea is to establish a component command under CENTCOM.
Israel wants a full interface with US satellites that cover regions that may generate serious threats like the new Iranian ballistic missiles. The issue was discussed earlier this month during the visit of the Israeli defense forces (IDF) Chief of the General Staff, LTG Aviv Kohavi, in the US.
During the visit Kohavi visited the US Navy Fleet Forces Command (USFF) headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia. The Chief of the General Staff was accompanied by the Commander of the US Fleet Forces Command, Admiral Daryl Caudle. Kohavi also participated in an operational situational assessment at the US CENTCOM Coalition in Tampa, Florida.
According to the IDF spoke person, the joint situational assessment held between the militaries focused on regional challenges, primarily the Iranian threat. “During the assessment, a plan for the continuation of the joint activity and the establishment of dedicated teams to deal with the Iranian challenge was agreed upon.”
While concluding the visit Kohavi said that in order to improve our capabilities toward the challenges in the region, joint activity with CENTCOM will be significantly expanded in the near future. “At the same time, the IDF will continue to act at an accelerated rate against the entrenchment of the Iranian regime in the region.” The IDF chief of staff also met with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, National Security Advisor to President, Jake Sullivan, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William J. Burns.
The space activates for military purposes is now a priority for the US armed forces and the IDF. To oversee military space activities throughout the Indo-Pacific, the Space Force last week inaugurated a regional command centre at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii ,The first of a series of new component commands that will serve as the service’s primary global interfaces.
Israel is a space power. Some years ago the official name of the Israeli air force has been changed to the Israeli air and space force. Most of Israel’s operations in space are highly classified. The open part of the activity shows very advanced capabilities in developing launchers and different satellites carrying very advanced payloads.
Maj General (Ret) Prof. Yitzhak Ben – Israel who was until recently the head of the Israeli Space Agency said, “It is always fruitful to integrate capabilities especially when dealing with developing threats.” During his service, Yitzhak Ben-Israel has held several posts in operations, intelligence and weapon development units of the IAF. He headed the IAF Operations Research Branch, Analysis and Assessment Division of IAF Intelligence, and was the Head of Military R&D in Israel Defense Forces and Ministry of Defense.
In recent years Israel has moved ahead in its space program. One part of this program is the decision to launch a great number of Nano and Micro satellites that will operate in swarms and will supply Israel with advanced early warning about an evolving threat like preparations for the launch of Iranian ballistic missiles.
Prof. Ben Israel said that during the first Gulf war in 1991 US satellites gave Israel an early warning on the launch of Iraqi missiles aimed at Israel. While Iran is galloping to the bomb, Israel takes big strides to be better ready and space is the new arena. The most recent addition to the versatile list of space systems, developed in Israel, is the new concept for a communication satellite by introducing the MCS – a Mini Communication Satellite.
According to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the country’s main space company, the MCS is an advanced communication satellite weighing roughly 700 kg upon its launch and includes a complete digital communication payload weighing up to 200 kg. A full size communication satellite have an average weight of 5000 kg. IAI says that due to its light weight, the satellite can be launched together in rideshare with other satellites, and this lowers the launch costs and the new satellite has a life expectancy of no less than 14 years and is specifically designed to provide multi-zone communication services to customers or countries with diverse communication needs.
The MCS uses and electrical propulsion system, developed specifically for this low weigh satellite. The MCS was developed based on over thirty years of IAI’s experience with various satellites and on the capabilities developed initially for Dror 1, designed and built by IAI for Israel’s national communication needs. As the Dror 1 is aimed to serve the Israeli defense requirements most of its planned capabilities were developed in-house by IAI, including an advanced digital communication payload and “space smartphone” capabilities that provide the operators with flexibility throughout the satellite’s mission life. In addition, the command program and development architecture allow for applications loading from a ground station during the satellite’s in-space operation, to adjust and modify assignments in accordance with changing communication needs.
IAI says that the MCS is fully digital with a flexible communication payload & applications; has high performance; has multi band capabilities, with up to four steerable antennas; and is cyber protected.
The MCS enables scalability, modularity, redundancy, and a short-term response to traffic demand. These qualities are according to Israeli defense sources essential to the planned use of this “national ” satellite.
According to IAI the mini satellite MCS offers a new concept to the communication satellite market, serving as a complementary or a focused regional system. Every satellite, is connected to a ground station that turns the raw data into actionable one. After a very focused development efforts , IAI has unveiled the Blue Sphere, a cloud-based ground station for satellites. The company says that it significantly increases information received from the satellite and allows the satellite to communicate with Earth at any given moment.
The setup of a virtual ground station in the cloud enhances the availability of the satellite output, reducing the dependence on “satellite passing time” above a specific ground station. Instead, the satellite is able to broadcast the information collected to any available ground station worldwide. From there, the information is transferred immediately to the cloud, allowing the data to be extracted on demand, leaving it for the ground station to transfer or withdraw the information immediately without dependency on reception towers located in different stations worldwide.
Israel launched and operates a number of very advanced spy satellites. But these low orbit spy satellites from the Offeq series, visit “areas of interest” in big intervals. Their optical or radar payloads cannot keep a persistence watch over the “Areas of interest” , and when it comes to the ballistic missiles threat , this is a major problem. The Israeli ministry of defense contracted Rafael to develop the Nano spy satellites that will operate in swarms to allow Israel to get real time warnings on evolving threats.
