Tel Aviv. To deal with the threat of snipers along the Israeli borders with Lebanon and Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is using special systems that locate snipers very accurately and very fast.
So far the use of snipers was very limited but this may change as Hezbollah is looking for a way to hit IDF soldiers especially along the Lebanese border to retaliate after it was hit by the IDF.
Intelligence shows that the Iranians supplied high power sniper rifles to the Hamas in Gaza.
In 2018 an IDF soldier was hit by an armor-piercing bullet fired from an Iranian-manufactured rifle. The gun used in the attack was identified as an Iranian replica of an Austrian Steyr rifle.
In recent years, the Hezbollah in Lebanon, through Iranian “straw” companies, purchased a great number of sniper rifles. High-powered rifles with suitable optics can inflict heavy casualties.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (RADS) has developed a system that helps ground forces locate enemy snipers. The company says that today’s battlefields present significant dangers for ground and mobile forces, including Time Critical Targets (TCT) and undetected enemy fire from small arms, RPGs and ATGMs.
According to Rafael, the answer to this critical scenario is the ultra-smart, vehicle-mounted Land Spotter, a passive electro-optical Hostile Fire Detection and Location solution.
The Israeli company says that with pinpoint accuracy, the system immediately detects and locates enemy fire, whether coming from stationary or on-the move positions. This extremely precise, pixel level input allows forces to quickly gain a clear situational picture and neutralize the enemy, thus ensuring the upper hand on the battlefield.
Rafael says that the systems can perform day/ night, all-weather detection, pinpoint location, and verification of enemy fire and in addition it is unaffected by environmental conditions.
A company source said that the systems is achieving a high Probability of Detection (PD) and has a very low False Alarm Rate (FAR). “The system is rapidly closing the sensor-to-shooter loop even in urban areas, which today is a main challenge,” a Rafael source said.
Rafael says that the system weighs less than 30kg including two very small, low-profile sensors, a smart display and cables.
The source pointed to the fact that the systems is unaffected by environmental conditions including wind, noise or echoes.
The Land Spotter consists of two very small, low-profile Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) sensors ‒ delivering a 360° horizontal FOV and +35° vertical FOV ‒ as well as a connecting harness and an HMI unit. The total weight of the system is less than 30kg.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist
