Originally Posted by The Reaper
As an Army guy, my knowledge of this is limited, but the following points occur to me. This op is going to be radically different from the previous strikes on Osirak and the Syrian reactor. Huge difference between attacking your neighbor, and someone across the city.
There is an old saying about striking not with a half-hearted blow. If we are going to war, make it worth it so that we do not merely irritate our opponent and have to do this again in three or four years.
Step One is going to have to be suppression of enemy air defenses. That will require quite a few planes to accomplish. If it were me, I would want a joint cruise missile and air delivered ordnance strike package. This may also require boots on the ground to assist.
They are going to need EW platforms to jam enemy electronic defenses.
IMHO, they are going to have to have tanker support to get there, accomplish the mission, and return, since I do not see any area countries alllowing them to land and refuel. I don't think the Israelis have the tankers to support the strike packages required.
Next, this job is going to require a cap of fighters to defend the bomb carriers. More planes, and more tankers to support them.
They are going to need AWACS or the equivalent, before, during, and after the mission.
You are going to have to have SAR resources. That means rotary wing and a way to get them there and back.
Finally, this mission will require pinpoint delivery of some very specialized ordnance. This is going to require pilot skills, which the Izzies may have, but also weapons that have the ability to attack hardened deeply buried targets. If they do not have the latest versions of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator and a system to carry them, there are several targets that will not be able to be touched directly. Our AF has only a few of these in the inventory, and I do not think the Israelis have a platform that can deliver them. This might also require ground parties to conduct pre-strike reconaissance, especially of the mobile assets that you are targeting. Can you get them in and out without airlift? Maybe.
If you are the Israelis, are you going to conduct a high-profile offensive operation that many miles from home with the majority of your AF involved? Obviously, that would be a great time for one (or more) of the unfriendly neighbors to conduct a few strikes of their own. You have to run a cap, or at least retain sufficient resources at home to defend and perhaps deliver weapons to other targets. You have to mobilize your entire AF to do all of this, and given the flight time to the target, that would be a helluva signature in advance.
Frankly, running this op with only 100 planes strikes me as inadequate.
IMHO, the Israelis cannot pull this off without significant assistance. I wonder who that could be?
TR
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