Christ First Forum

Israel: Iran moving toward acquiring Electronic Warfare systems
GeostrategyDirect.com ^ | 5/26/2010 | GeostrategyDirect.com

Posted on Saturday, May 29, 2010 12:01:53 AM by sonofstrangelove

Israel has assessed that Iran could employ electronic warfare (EW) to shut down communications in the Jewish state. Officials said the Defense Ministry and the military have concluded that Iran was acquiring and testing EW systems meant to destroy computers in government and key facilities as well as the Internet infrastructure in Israel. They said Iranian methods could also include hacking computers of the state-owned broadcasting network and planting false messages.

"On its own, Iran doesn't yet have significant EW capabilities," an official said. "But we know that it is working with elements in several countries, including China, that have this ability."

The Israeli military was scheduled to demonstrate counter-measures against an Iranian EW attack in a major exercise that began on May 23. Titled "Turning Point 4," the military and law enforcement community planned to enact a range of scenarios based on a massive Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored missile and EW attack on Israel.

"Israel's largest ever home front exercise is set to begin Sunday morning [May 23] as part of the emergency authorities' preparation for a number of possible scenarios, including an electronic attack against the country," the Israeli military said in a statement.

The four-day exercise was reported to mark the first time Israel tested its abilities against an enemy EW strike. Officials said the exercise would combine the military, Defense Ministry and municipal authorities in what would include a response to a massive missile and rocket strike from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

"It is no secret that we live in a region that is under the threat of missiles and rockets," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The EW portion of Turning Point-4 would include a mock enemy attack on all computers linked to the Internet.