Word: phantoms
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Washington hopes to rely on persuasion, but if that fails, the U.S. might theoretically resort to pressure. One means would be to threaten a cutback in military aid, including replacements for lost Israeli Phantom jets. Another would be to hold down on economic aid, though it is now running at only $55 million a year. A third, highly risky in a U.S. election year, would be a threat to tax the heavy contributions sent to Israel by the U.S. Jewish community (1969 estimate: $250 million). Such moves would drive a wedge between Israel and the U.S., its firmest ally...
Israel lost another Phantom over the Suez Canal last week-the third shot down in three weeks by SA-2 missiles. Israeli technicians are certain that they know why. The new missiles were tuned to a new range of frequencies, and the electronic countermeasure (ECM) devices carried by Israeli jets to spoof or confuse attacking missiles were not capable of picking up those frequencies. The Phantom pilots, wrongly assuming that their ECMs would divert onrushing missiles, were unable to take evasive action in time...
...developed devices could not cope with the improved missiles, U.S. equipment has a larger number of frequencies. Washington has released more than a hundred ECM pods to Israel, each consisting of a bomblike container 10 ft. long and weighing about 300 lbs., which fits under the wing of a Phantom like an auxiliary fuel tank. Inside each pod are three canisters containing "noisemakers," or jammers, that radiate electromagnetic waves in the same frequencies used by the acquisition, tracking and terminal guidance systems* of an oncoming missile. When the ECM is turned on, the "noise" disrupts the missile's systems...
...first results stunned Israel. In the space of six days three Israeli Phantom jets were shot down, and all but one of the six pilots and crewmen involved were captured by the Egyptians. To Israeli officials, it seemed plain the Soviet Union had moved into a crucial phase in its Arab support...
...Suez Canal. Israeli reconnaissance watched them, but no effort was made to bomb them for fear Russian MIGs would respond. In North Viet Nam the same type of SA-2s had a "kill" rate of less than one success per 1,000 firings. Suddenly they shot down two Phantoms within 30 minutes (the third downed Phantom was apparently hit by antiaircraft fire), indicating obvious improvements in their radar systems...