Into the Wild Blue Electronically

The successful Israeli air strikes on Syrian SA-6 mobile missiles in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley demonstrated that modern air war is as much a matter of computer array v5. computer array as man against man.

The Israeli attacking force, more than 90 strong, featured U.S.-built F-15s and F-16s, two of the finest fighters in the world, flying electronic marvels. Both planes are equipped with a system called "head-up display," or HUD; projected on the pilot's windshield, in phosphorescent green and orange, is a mass of essential data. An F-15 pilot flashing over the Bekaa could have watched the plotted positions of four separate enemy aircraft and also have been alerted by a flashing light and beeping in his headset if an SA-6 radar locked on to his jet. The F-15's computerized electronic countermeasure (ECM) equipment would have taken over, perhaps electronically "disguising" the F-15 to Syrian radar, then determining which enemy threat was the most immediate. If a jet-propelled SA-6 were fired, traveling toward the Israeli plane at 2,000 m.p.h., the jet's ECM would have singled it out for intense electronic jamming, trying to overcome the SAM'S own antijamming system to send the missile veering off course. If one of the Syrian MiG-21s and MiG-23s had fired a Soviet Atoll missile at an Israeli attacker, the same ECM beaming might have "spoofed" the weapon and forced it harmlessly off course.

When stalking Syrian fighters, an F-16 pilot, again using the HUD windshield images, had only to position a computer-generated "tracerline" over the MiG and fire his machine-cannon for one second; 100 20-mm rounds would have streaked toward the enemy jet. However, many of the downed MiGs were apparently hit by the latest model of the Sidewinder missile, which is being used effectively by British Sea Harriers in the Falkland Islands. The weapon adjusts its aim in flight with an extremely sensitive infrared homing system that guides the warhead toward the enemy jet at 1,650 m.p.h., faster than 95% of the planes in the Syrian air force. The new Sidewinders are so sensitive that they can lock in on the heat created by air friction on a jet's surface. The Israeli Sidewinders, like most of the electronic equipment on the aircraft, are not standard U.S. issue: they have been adapted and improved in the light of experience gained by Israel's constant sorties over Lebanon since 1976.

Israel's air-to-ground missiles are also formidable examples of Star Wars electronics. The U.S.-built Shrike missiles are designed specifically to knock out ground-based antiaircraft batteries such as the SA-6s. From as far away as 25 miles, the Shrikes' radar-seeking device can be tuned precisely to the SAM'S frequency probably recorded by Israeli drone planes flown over the area before the strikes. The Shrike missiles could then home on the target, effectively turning the enemy missile control system against itself.

Some of the SAM sites were probably wiped out by Maverick air-to-surface missiles, or "smart" bombs, some of which are guided along a pinpoint beam of laser light to within a few feet of the target. They are comparatively slow, but still accurate.

Syria's MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-25s, although relatively stripped-down export models, do have ECM gadgets, early-warning systems and air-to-air missiles. But their electronics are not as precise and powerful as the U.S.-Israeli counterparts. Israel also had available an even more powerful electronic back-up system: four U.S.-built E-2C Hawkeye surveillance planes, each able to track 250 enemy aircraft up to 300 miles away. In addition, Israel's pilots are among the best in the world. No fighter pilots have more intensive training--in ground practice with computerized simulators, in mock air battles against captured MiGs and in actual combat. If the Israeli claims that they destroyed 79 Syrian aircraft in last week's battles while losing only one themselves are to be believed, the training has paid off.

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