Israel can already receive intelligence information from American intelligence satellites, which monitor the area of western Iraq from which missiles can be launched at Israel
In the photo: Ofek launch May 5, 2002 from Palmahim beach
Israel can already receive intelligence information from American intelligence satellites, which monitor the area of western Iraq from which missiles can be launched at Israel. According to sources in Washington, the American agreement saves the need for US mediation in receiving the satellite information, and shortens the response time in the event of a missile attack on Israel.
In the 1991 Gulf War, the US did not agree to pass the information directly to Israel, and any warning about the launch of a Scud missile first reached the Americans and only then was it passed to Israel. Now Israel can receive the information directly and evaluate it both in the field of civil defense and in the field of air defense through the "Arrow" and "Patriot" systems, which are supposed to intercept the missiles.
The negotiations on Israel's sharing of the satellite information began after the Gulf War and finally the Israeli request to receive the relevant information directly was accepted. Sources in the US said that Israel and the US are establishing a two-way dialogue, in the framework of which Israel is also passing on information that can serve the Americans. This information helped prepare US plans to attack the missile launchers in Iraq.
Of course, the small difference between 1991 and 2003 should be noted: Israel currently has an independent, albeit incomplete, observation capability over all of its neighbors. This is through the Ofek 5 military satellite and the commercial Eros photography satellite, which serves as a backup.
Why partial? The reason is that these are low-orbit satellites that pass over any point on Earth only once every few days, so they can be used for long-term intelligence, but not for precise intelligence at the moment of a missile launch from Iraq. For such a role, a complete array of satellites is simply needed and not individual satellites.
