pinkeye
11-07-2003, 08:57 AM
from haaretz:
Sensitive IAI missile launch recorded by Channel 10
By Amnon Barzilai
Israel Aircraft Industries was frantically engaged
in damage control yesterday after an unprecedented
security lapse allowed a Channel 10 television
technician to capture an internal screening of a
secret missile test via an ordinary satellite
dish.
The technician said that he
captured the unencrypted
footage via an ordinary
household dish with a
one-meter diameter - the kind
owned by the tens of
thousands in Israel and by
millions throughout the
Middle East. Thus, as Channel
10's military correspondent,
Alon Ben David, noted, the intelligence
services of any hostile country could have
captured the film the same way.
After the initial shock, IAI officials tried to
portray the slip-up as less serious than it
seemed.
"This a completely unclassified project," IAI's
security officer, Naor Zeidman, told Haaretz.
"We do dozens of missile tests. So what? You
don't run to the media with every test. We
don't even have a customer for this missile.
Had this been anything connected to the Israel
Defense Forces, I assure you that there would
have been IDF encryption on [footage of] the
launch."
But despite the denials, senior defense
officials exerted massive pressure on Channel
10 in an effort to stop it from screening the
footage. Moreover, after Ben David asked the
defense establishment for comment, IAI was
immediately ordered to shut down its internal
television network. And, despite the fact that
the project was "unclassified," the military
censor demanded that Ben David's report be sent
to it for approval. According to Ben David, the
censor nixed significant portions of the
report, including anything that could have
identified the missile or revealed technical
details such as its range and flight path.
In a terse statement released yesterday, IAI
said that it "fired a long-range and accurate
artillery projectile in a test conducted off
the coast of Israel. Not all the goals of the
test were achieved." It added that the
projectile was developed on the assumption that
there is a global market for an accurate,
long-range weapon.
Malam, the IAI division that conducted the test,
is also the maker of the Arrow anti-missile
missile, the Shavit satellite launcher and,
according to foreign reports, the Jericho
surface-to-surface missile.
The incident began on Monday, when the Channel
10 technician, doing a routine scan of all
frequencies broadcast via Israel's Amos
satellite, captured some unusual pictures that
were being broadcast live. The pictures
resembled control-room activity before a
missile launch and appeared to have been
transmitted from one control room to another.
However, the technician was unable to capture
footage from the second source, as that was
encrypted.
The technician called Ben David, who advised the
technician to monitor that frequency
continuously. Over the next 48 hours, Channel
10 thus filmed all the launch preparations plus
the tests themselves - which took place over
the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday and yesterday
mornings. The missile, which was supposed to
hit its target within three minutes, went wild
after two minutes and fell into the sea.
The presence at the launch of high-level
officials - including CEO Moshe Keret, Deputy
IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazy and commander
of the ground forces Major General Yiftah Ron
Tal - seems to indicate that the defense
establishment had high hopes for the missile.
Zeidman, however, said that senior IDF officers
are invited to all such tests, in the hopes
that the army can be persuaded to buy.
Today, IAI will begin investigating the lapse.
According to Zeidman, Malam was responsible for
all the arrangements.
Sensitive IAI missile launch recorded by Channel 10
By Amnon Barzilai
Israel Aircraft Industries was frantically engaged
in damage control yesterday after an unprecedented
security lapse allowed a Channel 10 television
technician to capture an internal screening of a
secret missile test via an ordinary satellite
dish.
The technician said that he
captured the unencrypted
footage via an ordinary
household dish with a
one-meter diameter - the kind
owned by the tens of
thousands in Israel and by
millions throughout the
Middle East. Thus, as Channel
10's military correspondent,
Alon Ben David, noted, the intelligence
services of any hostile country could have
captured the film the same way.
After the initial shock, IAI officials tried to
portray the slip-up as less serious than it
seemed.
"This a completely unclassified project," IAI's
security officer, Naor Zeidman, told Haaretz.
"We do dozens of missile tests. So what? You
don't run to the media with every test. We
don't even have a customer for this missile.
Had this been anything connected to the Israel
Defense Forces, I assure you that there would
have been IDF encryption on [footage of] the
launch."
But despite the denials, senior defense
officials exerted massive pressure on Channel
10 in an effort to stop it from screening the
footage. Moreover, after Ben David asked the
defense establishment for comment, IAI was
immediately ordered to shut down its internal
television network. And, despite the fact that
the project was "unclassified," the military
censor demanded that Ben David's report be sent
to it for approval. According to Ben David, the
censor nixed significant portions of the
report, including anything that could have
identified the missile or revealed technical
details such as its range and flight path.
In a terse statement released yesterday, IAI
said that it "fired a long-range and accurate
artillery projectile in a test conducted off
the coast of Israel. Not all the goals of the
test were achieved." It added that the
projectile was developed on the assumption that
there is a global market for an accurate,
long-range weapon.
Malam, the IAI division that conducted the test,
is also the maker of the Arrow anti-missile
missile, the Shavit satellite launcher and,
according to foreign reports, the Jericho
surface-to-surface missile.
The incident began on Monday, when the Channel
10 technician, doing a routine scan of all
frequencies broadcast via Israel's Amos
satellite, captured some unusual pictures that
were being broadcast live. The pictures
resembled control-room activity before a
missile launch and appeared to have been
transmitted from one control room to another.
However, the technician was unable to capture
footage from the second source, as that was
encrypted.
The technician called Ben David, who advised the
technician to monitor that frequency
continuously. Over the next 48 hours, Channel
10 thus filmed all the launch preparations plus
the tests themselves - which took place over
the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday and yesterday
mornings. The missile, which was supposed to
hit its target within three minutes, went wild
after two minutes and fell into the sea.
The presence at the launch of high-level
officials - including CEO Moshe Keret, Deputy
IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazy and commander
of the ground forces Major General Yiftah Ron
Tal - seems to indicate that the defense
establishment had high hopes for the missile.
Zeidman, however, said that senior IDF officers
are invited to all such tests, in the hopes
that the army can be persuaded to buy.
Today, IAI will begin investigating the lapse.
According to Zeidman, Malam was responsible for
all the arrangements.