The Israeli military deployed its missile defense system Thursday to intercept a drone fired from Syria, officials said.



According to The Associated Press, the incident came after Syria accused Israel of attacking a military installation near Damascus International Airport early Thursday.



While Israel has several defense systems, military officials used the country’s aging Patriot Missile Defense System in Thursday’s incident.



What does the latest Patriot Missile Defense System do?

What was it designed for? 

According to the U.S. Army, the latest version of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System is designed to detect, track and destroy unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), cruise missiles and short-range or tactical ballistic missiles.



What weapon is used in the system? 

The U.S. Army's Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile, the newest weapon in the Patriot arsenal, is used in the system. 



How does it work? 

The system, guided by computers, launches Patriot missiles that seek out and destroy targets by slamming into them and exploding.



What does the missile contain? 

The PAC-3 Missile has a solid propellant rocket motor, 180 small-attitude control motors, a radar seeker, aerodynamic controls and an inertial guidance system, according to Aeroweb.com.



What makes them “mobile?” 

The missiles are transported by and launched from the M901 launching station, which is mounted on a semitrailer and towed by a tractor. The tractor can carry up to 16 PAC-3 missiles. 



Who operates it? 

A crew of three operators analyzes incoming threats and responds by launching missiles if necessary.

How does the missile find its target? 

The PAC-3 missile is directed by a computer to an intercept point. Motors guide the missile directly into the incoming target.



Which countries have the systems? 

The Patriot Missile Defense System is in service (or on order) in the Republic of China (Taiwan), Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Spain. Poland will soon be getting the system. South Korea purchased a secondhand system from Germany.



Is it the main weapons system in Israel? 

The county has come to rely on its “Iron Dome” system, which is designed to shoot down short-range rockets, and its “Arrow” system, which was built to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The new “David’s Sling” missile defense system was introduced earlier this month. It is designed to intercept tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and medium- to long-range rockets.



Has Israel used the Patriot system before? 

Yes, it has. Israel’s system is an older version of the Patriot missile defense system. The last time the country used it was in July 2016, when missiles were fired at a drone believed to have been launched from Syria. Both missiles missed the drone.



What does it cost? 

Each MIM-104F Patriot PAC-3 missile costs around $3.4 million. The launcher costs $3.8 million.</s>A Patriot missile intercepted a Syrian drone that entered Israeli airspace on Thursday evening, the army said.

According to the IDF, the missile successfully downed the unmanned aerial vehicle over the Golan Heights.

“The IDF will not allow any breach of Israel’s airspace and will act against any attempt of infiltration,” the army said in a statement.

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According to the IDF, the Syrian UAV was under “full [Israeli Air Force] surveillance” while it was in Israeli airspace.

It was not initially clear if the aircraft was Russian or Syrian, but the army later confirmed that it was Syrian.

The army said residents of northern Israel could go about their lives as normal.

A video from the northern Israeli city of Safed showed the Patriot missile launch.

#BREAKING video: Launch of a Patriot missile from northern Israel against an unidentified aircraft pic.twitter.com/TQYgxgG7PV — Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) April 27, 2017

On Wednesday, Arab media reported that Israel attacked a Syrian Army air base near Damascus.

Israel would not officially comment on whether it had carried out the strike. However, Syrian officials insisted the Jewish state was behind the attack, which reportedly targeted a stash of weapons that were bound for the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group.

Though he didn’t explicitly acknowledge Israel was behind it, Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said the attack was consistent with Israel’s policy of preventing arms transfers to Hezbollah.

Israel has carried out multiple airstrikes in Syria since that country’s civil war erupted in 2011, most of which it has said targeted arms convoys or warehouses of its Lebanese arch-foe Hezbollah, which is a key supporter of the Syrian regime.

Last month, the army said it conducted several strikes near the Syrian desert city of Palmyra, targeting what it said were “advanced weapons” belonging to Hezbollah.

The strikes prompted Syria to launch ground-to-air missiles, one of which was intercepted over Israeli territory in the most serious flare-up between the two neighbors since the Syrian civil war began six years ago.

The Patriot missiles were designed by the United States to intercept incoming missiles and aircraft.

They have been deployed in Israel since the 1990s, but first saw anti-aircraft combat during the 2014 Gaza war, when a battery shot down an unmanned Hamas aircraft over the port of Ashdod.

On August 31, 2014, the system saw its second combat use, when a battery shot down a Syrian unmanned aerial vehicle in the Golan Heights.

A month after that, the Patriot system was used to down a Syrian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24, which penetrated Israeli air space.

AFP contributed to this report.</s>The first of two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors is launched during a successful intercept test. The test, conducted by Missile Defense Agency , Ballistic Missile Defense System Operational Test Agency, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, and U.S. Pacific Command, in conjunction with U.S. Army Soldiers from the Alpha Battery, 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, U.S. Navy sailors aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Decatur , and U.S. Air Force airmen from the 613th Air and Operations Center resulted in the intercept of one medium-range ballistic missile target by THAAD, and one medium-range ballistic missile target by Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense .

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Daily Caller.</s>Israel's Patriot Missile Defense System Intercepted a Projectile From Syria

 

 (BEIRUT) — Israel's military says it deployed its Patriot missile defense system to intercept a projectile incoming from Syria above the Golan Heights. The military did not elaborate on what it described as a "target" in its message on Thursday night.</s>Mobility is a critical aspect for every military organization. For the Coast Guard, effective mobility is the capability to surge people, boats and equipment on short notice to an area of need. In cases of natural disasters or other catastrophic incidents the surge of assets must be accomplished quickly in order to save lives and property.

To prepare for these events, Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Teams Kings Bay, Georgia, and Miami participated in the Air Force’s 2017 Operation Patriot Sands. Operation Patriot Sands is an annual joint, interagency exercise that allows units to practice cooperative transport of vital equipment using Air Force planes. The two MSSTs met with an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft crew and successfully loaded two response boats, two trucks and over a dozen Coast Guard personnel onto the aircraft. The group flew to MacDill Air Force Base where they unloaded and reloaded all of their gear before returning to Homestead, Florida.

Trained load planners with the MSSTs know the principles of putting heavy equipment on aircraft for transport but opportunities to practice those skills can be rare.

“Operation Patriot Sands was one of the best teamwork experiences of my career,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Leugi Cotayo, load planner for MSST Miami. “Air Force and Coast Guard members worked together as if it was routine. This exercise gave us the experience and confidence required to perform an air mobility evolution at any given time. The mechanics of the operation were all that was needed to complement what was learned during the load planning classroom course.”

The sight of orange-sided Coast Guard response boats being trailered on and off a massive Air Force C-17 turned a few heads, but it was a strong symbol of how important and effective joint cooperation is for America’s armed services. Most importantly Operation Patriot Sands allowed MSSTs King’s Bay and Miami an opportunity to practice an essential aspect of their role – deployability.

For everyone involved, Operation Patriot Sands was a successful learning opportunity that strengthened partnerships and showed that mobility is a team effort.

“We’re very lucky to be based here in Homestead at an Air Force facility,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Duffy, commanding officer of MSST Miami. “The base is very supportive of us and everything we do. This exercise was just another great example of how much we benefit from working closely with our sister service here. As members of the Deployable Specialized Forces, it’s our job and part of our value proposition to be deployable so we can get where we’re needed to help out with Coast Guard operations. We may not always get to accomplish that using a C-17, but we have strong joint partners and the ability to be creative should the circumstances call for it. Ultimately, it’s about being where the Coast Guard needs us, being team players and supporting the geographically-based units that are doing great Coast Guard work every day.”</s>On this look around the Air Force, a U.S. Air Force Academy grad treks to space, the 10th African Partnership Flight kicks off and the 2017 Air Force photo contest opens soon.</s>On this look around the Air Force, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David L. Goldfein awards two Airmen the Air Force Cross and President Donald Trump speaks with astronauts who are onboard the International Space Station.</s>THE BUG BOUNTY COORDINATOR HackerOne has just announced one of its baddest trophies yet: the US Air Force.

HackerOne has already offered big cash rewards for successful security shaming on the Pentagon and the US Army, and is pleased to be in a position to offer up the soft underbelly of the US Air Force.

"Today, Air Force Chief Information Security Officer, Peter Kim, and Director of Defense Digital Service, Chris Lynch, joined us at HackerOne to announce the U.S. Air Force's first ever bug bounty challenge," said HackerOne in a blog.

"One of the most technologically advanced organizations in the world, the Air Force is looking to strengthening their critical assets with help from the hacker community. Hackers who report qualifying vulnerabilities to the Air Force will be rewarded for their contributions."

For the first time the bounty hunt is open to people outside of the US and the Air Force described these locations as being part of the Five Eyes, which we know is an umbrella term for a gang of five surveillance fans and you probably know as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

"This is the first time the AF has opened up our networks to such a broad scrutiny," said Air Force chief information security officer Peter Kim.

"We have malicious hackers trying to get into our systems every day. It will be nice to have friendly hackers taking a shot and, most importantly, showing us how to improve our cybersecurity and defense posture. The additional participation from our partner nations greatly widens the variety of experience available to find additional unique vulnerabilities."

Hack the Air Force starts 15 May and you will probably get in trouble if you have a crack at it before then. If you wear a white hat and have some time to spare then you should pre register at the HackerOne website now.

When HackerOne ran the Hack the Army program it got its first vulnerability notice in just five minutes. Ultimately over $100,000 was paid out to successful crackers. µ
The Israeli Air Defense Command shoots down a Syrian Air Force drone using a MIM-104 Patriot missile.