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MIDEAST: Alarm Spreads Over Use of Lethal New Weapons
By Erin Cunningham
GAZA CITY, Jan 22 (IPS) - Eighteen-year-old Mona Al-Ashkar says she
did not immediately know the first explosion at the United Nations
(UN) school in Beit Lahiya had blown her left leg off. There was
smoke, then chaos, then the pain and disbelief set in once she
realised it was gone - completely severed by the weapon that hit her.
Mona is one of the many patients among the 5,500 injured that have
international and Palestinian doctors baffled by the type of weaponry
used in the Israeli operation. High-profile human rights organisations
like Amnesty International are accusing Israel of war crimes.
Mona's doctors at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital found no shrapnel in
her leg, and it looked as though it had been "sliced right off with a
knife."
"We are not sure exactly what type of weapon can manage to do that
immediately and so cleanly," said Dr. Sobhi Skaik, consultant surgeon
general at Al-Shifa hospital. "What is happening is frightening. It's
possible the Israeli army was using Gaza to experiment militarily."
Both international organisations and human rights groups, including
the UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have condemned
Israel's use of unconventional weapons in civilian areas of the Gaza
Strip.
Amnesty International's chief researcher for Israel and the
Palestinian Territories, Donatella Rovera, told IPS in Beit Lahiya
that Israel's use of white phosphorus and other "area weapons" on
civilian populations amounted to war crimes.
"The kind of weapons used and the manner in which they were used
indicates prima facie evidence of war crimes," she said.
Israel announced Wednesday it would be launching its own probe into
reported use of white phosphorus, but has so far refused to comment
further.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear
watchdog, said it would look into a claim made by the ambassadors of a
number of Arab nations that Israel used depleted uranium in its recent
attacks on Gaza.
Local doctors say a number of both widespread and unusual injuries may
indicate that new types of weapons were used on the Gaza population
during the war. Health officials are seeing wounds they have never
seen before, or at least not on such a massive scale.
"There has been a significant loss of life here in Gaza for reasons
that are unexplainable medically," said Dr. Skaik.
Mona's injury is characteristic of Dense Inert Metal Explosives
(DIME). DIMEs are munitions that, packed with tungsten powder, produce
an intense explosion at about the level of the knee, with signs of
severe heat at the point of amputation.
"If you ask a patient how it happened, how their leg was removed, they
won't know," Dr. Skaik said. "They'll say that a rocket or missile
exploded and took only their lower limbs off."
Once in the body, tungsten is both difficult to detect and extremely
carcinogenic, and can produce an aggressive form of cancer, according
to both military experts.
Dr. Skaik says the Al-Shifa hospital alone has seen between 100 to 150
patients with this type of injury. Over 50 patients at Al-Shifa had
two or more limbs severed, he says.
But because Gaza's hospitals are so poorly equipped, it has been
nearly impossible so far to test properly for the substances and count
accurately how many wounded Palestinians may have been hit with this
weapon.
The Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert who worked at Al-Shifa hospital
during the siege confirmed to journalists that the injuries were
aligned with those produced by DIME explosives.
Human rights groups say Israel used the weapon for the first time in
Lebanon in 2006.
What is worrying health officials even more, however, is that some of
the patients' organs are being ruptured with little or no sign of a
shrapnel entry point.
This is something they have never seen before, they say, and also
something they do not know how to treat.
"Normal shrapnel has a clear path, with both an entry and an exit
point," said Dr. Mohamed Al-Ron, another surgeon at Al-Shifa hospital.
"But someone's entire abdomen will be ripped open, and only after
searching will we find a miniscule hole in the skin. Then we will find
small black dots all over the organ, but we don't know what they are."
It is an indication, he continued, that whatever is entering the body
is exploding and doing the damage once it is inside. Multiple organs
will fail, and will continue to fail even after surgery removes any
shrapnel.
"We are consulting with international colleagues, and they are
confirming that there is something unusual going on with these cases,"
said Dr. Skaik.
"We have seen plenty of nails, of metal shrapnel and foreign metallic
parts, but there was never violence of this character or something
that continued to damage even after the parts of the weapon were
removed. What is being intentionally created is a population of
handicapped people."
Some of the injuries, including multiple organ failure, mutilation and
severed limbs, are so debilitating that Dr. Karim Hosni, an Egyptian
doctor volunteering at the Al-Naser hospital in Khan Younis, says he
wishes he could just end his patients' misery.
"Sometimes I wish my patients would just die," he said. "Their
injuries are so horrifying, that I know they will now have to lead
terrible and painful lives." (END/2009)
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45503
What is DENSE INERT METAL EXPLOSIVE ? Can anyone explain ?
January 13, 2009 Tuesday Muharram 15, 1430
Israel testing 'extremely nasty' weapon: Norwegian doctors
OSLO, Jan 12: Israel is testing a new "extremely nasty" type of weapon
in Gaza, two medics charged as they returned home to Norway on Monday
after spending 10 days working at a hospital in the war-torn
Palestinian territory.
"There's a very strong suspicion I think that Gaza is now being used
as a test laboratory for new weapons," Mads Gilbert told reporters at
Oslo's Gardermoen airport, commenting on the kinds of injuries he and
his colleague Erik Fosse had seen while working at the Al Shifa
Hospital in Gaza.
The two medics, who were sent into the war zone by the pro-Palestinian
aid organisation NORWAC on Dec 31, said they had seen clear signs that
Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME), an experimental kind of
explosive, were being used in Gaza.
"This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that
detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a
range of five to 10 metres," said Gilbert, 61.
"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because
they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen
a number of very brutal amputations... without shrapnel injuries which
we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons," he
added.
The weapon "causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very
different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of
different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and
this looks completely different," said Fosse, 58.
"If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it's like
your legs get torn off. It's an enormous pressure wave and there is no
shrapnel," he explained.
Gilbert also accused Israel of having used the weapon in the 2006
Lebanon war and previously in Gaza, and referred to studies showing
wounds from the explosive could cause lethal forms of cancer within
just four to six months.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks punched their way towards Gaza City on Monday
in some of the heaviest clashes of the war as Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert vowed to hit Hamas with an "iron fist" unless it stopped firing
rockets.
A defiant Hamas however said it was closer than ever to victory after
17 days of conflict.
Israeli infantry units battled Hamas gunmen across the region as
Olmert insisted Israel was achieving the objectives of Operation Cast
Lead.
"We want to end the operation when the two conditions we have demanded
are met: ending the rocket fire and stopping Hamas's rearmament. If
these two conditions are met, we will end our operation in Gaza,"
Olmert said in a speech.
"Anything else will meet the iron fist of the Israeli people, who are
no longer ready to tolerate the Qassams (rockets)."An army spokesman
said that close to 30 missiles had been launched from Gaza during the
course of the day, although there were no reports of casualties.
Hamas is nearing victory in its war against Israel, Ismail Haniya, the
prime minister of Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, said on Monday.
"We are approaching victory," he said in a televised address.
"The blood which has flowed will not have flowed in vain as it will
bring us victory, thanks be to God," Haniya said.
"I tell you that after 17 days of this foolish war, Gaza has not been
broken and Gaza will not fall." Haniya also said that the blood of
children who have been killed in the conflict would serve as a "curse
which will come back to haunt (US President George W.) Bush."
Medics said 20 Palestinians were killed in the latest fighting,
bringing the overall toll to 917, including 277 children. A further
4,100 have been wounded.-Agencies
http://www.aimislam.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8901
Doctors Spooked by Israel's Mystery Weapon
By David Hambling - January 28, 2009 | 12:46 pm |
Categories: Iraq, Israel, Weapons and Ammo
Critics continue to press the case that Israel committed "war crimes"
in its war with Hamas, because of the civilian casualties in Gaza.
Ironically, many of these wounds may have been caused by a weapon
designed to reduce collateral damage. Not that the Israelis admit they
have the thing.
We first reported on Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) munitions in
2006. The weapons originated as an offshoot of a bunker-busting
program, when it was found that adding tungsten powder to explosives
seemed to increase the blast effect over a small area. The powder was
acting as micro-shrapnel which only carries for a few feet (compared
to hundreds of feet for larger fragments), so the result was dubbed
the "focused lethality munition" (FLM) which does massive damage in a
small area and nothing outside.
There are a large number of reports from Gaza that suggest this type
of weapon has been used, and, unfortunately, caused civilian deaths.
There are reports and pictures of victims peppered with small
particles, and descriptions which are consistent with very localized
blast.
During Noah's trip to Israel, he saw drone footage of an extremely
small weapon hitting a car. When it struck - on a road, cutting
through a Gaza cemetery - the car didn't go up in a ball of flames.
Its roof caved in, with a puff of smoke. The back doors were blown
out; the front doors stayed shut.
Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza says that the weapon
"causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different
[from a shrapnel injury]. I have seen and treated a lot of different
injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks
completely different."
According to Fosse and his colleague Mads Gilbert, the weapon
typically amputates or tears apart lower limbs and patients often do
not survive. It's no more illegal than normal blast-and-shrapnel
weapons, but it is a mystery.
The only known focused-lethality munition is a version of the GBU-40
Small Diameter Bomb. The weapon has been sold to Israel; Danger Room
reported last month that the Israeli Defense Forces were using it in
Gaza. But there are two problems. First, the Israelis seem to have
bought the original version, not the FLM. And secondly, as Ares
reported, Boeing has stated that it has not made any deliveries of the
weapon to Tel Aviv, yet.
Ares speculated that the IDF is using weapons supplied by the U.S. Air
Force; a spokesman told the site that "we cannot release sensitive
information on foreign military sales."
However, Fosse told Britain's Independent newspaper, "all the patients
I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones. The bomb hit
the ground near them and exploded."
It's just possible that Israel is dropping Small Diameter Bombs from
drones, but far more likely that this is a small missile with a DIME
warhead. Channel 4 News recently aired footage of Human Rights Watch's
Marc Garlasco investigating the site of a number of DIME strikes in
Gaza. The damage was very localized - confined to one room in one case
- suggesting a much smaller weapon.
It is highly likely that Israel has developed its own version of DIME.
In the United States, DIME is also being used for active defense
systems to shoot down rocket-propelled grenades and other incoming
threats. Because it does not throw shrapnel to any distance, it's much
safer than traditional warheads. The Israeli "Iron Fist" interceptor
unveiled in 2006 is a similar concept, with small radar-guided
projectiles. "Iron Fist uses only the blast effect to defeat the
threat, crushing the soft components of a shaped charge or deflecting
and destabilizing the missile or kinetic rod in their flight,"
according to Defense Update. This suggests DIME technology.
One of the often-quoted concerns about DIME - which I mentioned two
years back - is the potential for tungsten particles to cause cancer.
But it's quite possible that the Israeli version is not based on
tungsten, and we will not know until there is chemical analysis. (Just
a guess, but something called Iron Fist might well use iron or steel
particles).
But why is such a precise weapon, intended to avoid the risk of
collateral damage, causing civilian casualties at all? It takes
tactics and procedures, as well as technology. I can only quote Marc
Garlasco's original comment to me in 2006:
"It is unfortunate that these weapons are being developed specifically
for use in densely populated areas which may negate the intended
effect."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/01/mystery-weapon/
Israel Treated Gaza Like Its Own Private Death Laboratory
By Conn Hallinan, Foreign Policy. Posted February 13, 2009.
Israel tested out a "focused lethality" weapon that minimizes
explosive damage to structures while inflicting catastrophic wounds on
its victims.
Erik Fosse, a Norwegian cardiologist, worked in Gaza hospitals during
the recent war."It was as if they had stepped on a mine," he says of
certain Palestinian patients he treated. "But there was no shrapnel in
the wound. Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been
sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never
seen such injuries before."
Dr. Fosse was describing the effects of a U.S. "focused lethality"
weapon that minimizes explosive damage to structures while inflicting
catastrophic wounds on its victims. But where did the Israelis get
this weapon? And was their widespread use in the attack on Gaza a
field test for a new generation of explosives?
DIMEd to Death
The specific weapon is called a Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME). In
2000, the U.S. Air Force teamed up with the University of California's
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The weapon wraps high
explosives with a tungsten alloy and other metals like cobalt, nickel,
or iron in a carbon fiber/epoxy container. When the bomb explodes the
container evaporates, and the tungsten turns into micro-shrapnel that
is extremely lethal within a 13-foot radius. Tungsten is inert, so it
doesn't react chemically with the explosive. While a non-inert metal
like aluminum would increase the blast, tungsten actually contains the
explosion to a limited area.
Within the weapon's range, however, it's inordinately lethal.
According to Norwegian doctor Mad Gilbert, the blast results in
multiple amputations and "very severe fractures. The muscles are sort
of split from the bones, hanging loose, and you also have quite severe
burns." Most of those who survive the initial blast quickly succumb to
septicemia and organ collapse. "Initially, everything seems in
orderbut it turns out on operation that dozens of miniature particles
can be found in all their organs," says Dr. Jam Brommundt, a German
doctor working in Kham Younis, a city in southern Gaza. "It seems to
be some sort of explosive or shell that disperses tiny particlesthat
penetrate all organs, these miniature injuries, you are not able to
attack them surgically." According to Brommundt, the particles cause
multiple organ failures.
If by some miracle victims resist those conditions, they are almost
certain to develop rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a particularly deadly
cancer that deeply embeds itself into tissue and is almost impossible
to treat. A 2005 U.S. Department of health study found that tungsten
stimulated RMS cancers even in very low doses. All of the 92 rats
tested developed the cancer.
While DIMEs were originally designed to avoid "collateral" damage
generated by standard high-explosive bombs, the weapon's lethality and
profound long-term toxicity hardly seem like an improvement.
It appears DIME weapons may have been used in the 2006 Israeli
invasion of Lebanon, but not enough to alarm medical workers. But in
Gaza, the ordinance was widely used. Al-Shifta alone has seen 100 to
150 victims of these attacks.
Gaza as Test
Dr. Gilbert told the Oslo Gardermoen, "there is a strong suspicionthat
Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons."
http://www.alternet.org/story/126724/?comments=view&cID=1142239&pID=1134875
Phosphorous controversy in Gaza
Updated on 22 January 2009
By Jonathan Miller
Evidence is uncovered that white phosphorous, which can burn through
clothing and stick to the skin, was used in Gaza.
Watch the report
Throughout the three-week offensive there were claims about Israel's
use of controversial weapons, possibly against international law, in a
densely-populated area and their the deadly effect on civilians.
Flachette bombs, deployed by the Americans in Vietnam, also appear to
have been fired.
These weapons should not be used against civilians, but there is
evidence some were hit. Civilians have also been killed in attacks
that may have involved DIME bombs.
None of these three weapons is explicitly banned under international
humanitarian law.
But the way they are used could contravene laws meant to protect
civilians in conflict, specifically in built-up areas like Gaza.
White phosphorous ignites on contact with oxygen. Flechettes expel
razor sharp darts. DIME bombs cause large blasts over small areas.
This report was filmed by our special investigative team Jonathan
Miller and Inigo Gilmore inside Gaza. It contains images which some of
you may find disturbing.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/phosphorous%20controversy%20in%20gaza%20%20/2909012
Unconventional weapons used against Gazans
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:43:01 GMT
Norwegian Doctor Mads Gilbert
Doctor Mads Gilbert is a member of a Norwegian triage medical team
present in the besieged Gaza Strip. The team has exposed that Israel
has used depleted uranium weapons in its war on the impoverished
territory which is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. He described the
conditions inside Gaza in an exclusive Press TV interview.
Press TV: What can you tell about the uranium findings?
Dr. Mads Gilbert:The findings about the uranium I cannot tell you much
about, but I can tell you that we have clear evidence that the
Israelis are using a new type of very high explosive weapons which are
called Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) and are made out of a
tungsten alloy.
These weapons have an enormous power to explode.
The power of the explosion dissipates very quickly and the strength
does not travel long, maybe 10 meters, but those humans who are hit by
this explosion, this pressure wave are cut in pieces.
This was first used in Lebanon in 2006, it was used here in Gaza in
2006 and the injuries that we see in Shifa [Hospital] now, many many
of them I suspect and we all suspect are the effect of DIME weapons
used by the Israelis.
On the long term, these weapons will have a cancer effect on those who
survive. They will develop cancer we suspect. There has been very
little research on this but some research has been among other places
in the United States, which show that these weapons have a high
tendency to develop cancer. So they kill and those who survive risk
having cancer.
Press TV: And what do you have to say about this?
Dr. Mads Gilbert:All that is happening in Gaza here now is against
international law, it is against humanity and I think it is against
what it means to be a decent person. You don't treat other people like
this. Even if you disagree with him… maybe even if you fight with
them, you don't treat civilians, children and women like this.
And I have an appeal to the Israeli doctors and nurses. They are my
colleagues. We belong to the same international community, the medical
community. I wish that the good doctors and nurses in Israel tell
their government to stop these atrocities. We cannot continue with
this. We may differ in opinions, but you cannot treat the civilian
Palestinian population in Gaza in this way.
Today, they were bombing in Gaza City; we received 150 wounded and
more than 50 killed.
Press TV: Only at Shifa?!
Dr. Mads Gilbert:Yes, here in Shifa. I treated a ten-year-old boy. He
had his whole chest filled with fragments from the bomb. On his lap
was another person's leg that had been cut off. We resuscitated him
and did everything we could do to save his life but he died between
our hands.
This is such a terrible experience and behind the numbers that you
report all the time, there are human beings, families, women,
grandmothers, children. That is in fact the reality in this situation.
Those who are paying the price for the Israeli bombardments now are
the common people, the Palestinian people.
Half of the population in Palestine are below 15 years and 80 percent
of the people in Gaza live below the level of poverty defined by the
UN. Now they don't have food, they don't have electricity. It's cold
they don't have warmth and in addition to that, they are killed.
This must be stopped.
Press TV How many people did you see that are effected by this weapon?
Dr. Mads Gilbert: Almost all of the patients we have received have
these sever amputations. They seem to have been affected by this kind
of weapon. Of course, we have many fragment injuries and burns but
those who have got their limbs cut off, constitutes quite a large
proportion.
You know we have a lot to do. Palestinian doctors, nurses and
paramedics do an incredibly heroic job to save their people. Doctor
Eric and I are just a small drip in the ocean, but we learn from them.
Unfortunately, we don't have the time to do research, we have to save
lives, but this question should be researched by the international
community.
AA/AA
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80685§ionid=3510302
2009-01-29 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Doctors Spooked by Israel's Mystery Weapon
Critics continue to press the case that Israel committed "war crimes"
in its war with Hamas, because of the civilian casualties in Gaza.
Ironically, many of these wounds may have been caused by a weapon
designed to reduce collateral damage. Not that the Israelis admit they
have the thing.
We first reported on Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) munitions in
2006. The weapons originated as an offshoot of a bunker-busting
program, when it was found that adding tungsten powder to explosives
seemed to increase the blast effect over a small area. The powder was
acting as micro-shrapnel which only carries for a few feet (compared
to hundreds of feet for larger fragments), so the result was dubbed
the "focused lethality munition" (FLM) which does massive damage in a
small area and nothing outside.
There are a large number of reports from Gaza that suggest this type
of weapon has been used, and, unfortunately, caused civilian deaths.
There are reports and pictures of victims peppered with small
particles, and descriptions which are consistent with very localized
blast.
During Noah's trip to Israel, he saw drone footage of an extremely
small weapon hitting a car. When it struck -- on a road, cutting
through a Gaza cemetery -- the car didn't go up in a ball of flames.
Its roof caved in, with a puff of smoke. The back doors were blown
out; the front doors stayed shut.
Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza says that the weapon
"causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different
[from a shrapnel injury]. I have seen and treated a lot of different
injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks
completely different."
According to Fosse and his colleague Mads Gilbert, the weapon
typically amputates or tears apart lower limbs and patients often do
not survive. It's no more illegal than normal blast-and-shrapnel
weapons, but it is a mystery.
The only known focused-lethality munition is a version of the GBU-40
Small Diameter Bomb. The weapon has been sold to Israel; Danger Room
reported last month that the Israeli Defense Forces were using it in
Gaza. But there are two problems. First, the Israelis seem to have
bought the original version, not the FLM. And secondly, as Ares
reported, Boeing has stated that it has not made any deliveries of the
weapon to Tel Aviv, yet.
Ares speculated that the IDF is using weapons supplied by the U.S. Air
Force; a spokesman told the site that "we cannot release sensitive
information on foreign military sales."
However, Fosse told Britain's Independent newspaper, "all the patients
I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones. The bomb hit
the ground near them and exploded."
It's just possible that Israel is dropping Small Diameter Bombs from
drones, but far more likely that this is a small missile with a DIME
warhead. Channel 4 News recently aired footage of Human Rights Watch's
Marc Garlasco investigating the site of a number of DIME strikes in
Gaza. The damage was very localized -- confined to one room in one
case -- suggesting a much smaller weapon.
It is highly likely that Israel has developed its own version of DIME.
In the United States, DIME is also being used for active defense
systems to shoot down rocket-propelled grenades and other incoming
threats. Because it does not throw shrapnel to any distance, it's much
safer than traditional warheads. The Israeli "Iron Fist" interceptor
unveiled in 2006 is a similar concept, with small radar-guided
projectiles. "Iron Fist uses only the blast effect to defeat the
threat, crushing the soft components of a shaped charge or deflecting
and destabilizing the missile or kinetic rod in their flight,"
according to Defense Update. This suggests DIME technology.
One of the often-quoted concerns about DIME -- which I mentioned two
years back -- is the potential for tungsten particles to cause cancer.
But it's quite possible that the Israeli version is not based on
tungsten, and we will not know until there is chemical analysis. (Just
a guess, but something called Iron Fist might well use iron or steel
particles).
But why is such a precise weapon, intended to avoid the risk of
collateral damage, causing civilian casualties at all? It takes
tactics and procedures, as well
Posted by Besoeker 2009-01-29 14:09
http://www.rantburg.com/warticle.php?D=2009-01-29&ID=261108
http://www.altavista.com/web/results?sc=off&q=gaza+weapon+iron+fist+dense+inert+metal+domain%3Arantburg.com
Iron Fist Active Protection Ssystem (APS)
In Eurosatory 2006 IMI unveiled its new Active Defense System (ADS)
called - Iron Fist. Until recently, the development of Iron Fist was
shrouded in secrecy, as it was developed in parallel to a different
Israeli developed ADS system - RAFAEL's Trophy, which entered full
scale development in 2005. However, due to rapid development pace and
successful testing, IMI expects to deliver the first systems for IDF
testing and qualifications by mid 2007. Unlike competing systems,
IMI's Iron Fist can be installed on light vehicles, including trucks
and even Humvees, offering effective protection from RPGs. IMI
conducted extensive testing against a full spectrum of threats,
engaging various types of threats from stationary and moving armored
personnel carriers. The system already demonstrated effective
protection of light vehicles and heavy armored vehicles, from small
rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles and tank rounds equipped
with shaped charge warheads as well as advanced kinetic threats (armor
piercing tank rounds).
The system uses a fixed radar sensor, mounted on the protected
platform, to detect potential threats, measure distance and
trajectory, providing the fire control system with data for
calculation of engagement plans. When a threat is identified as
imminent, an explosive projectile interceptor is launched toward it.
The interceptor, shaped similar to a small mortar bomb, is designed to
defeat the threat even when flying in very close proximity. Unlike
other systems, the Iron Fist uses only the blast effect to defeat the
threat, crushing the soft components of a shaped charge or deflecting
and destabilizing the missile or kinetic rod in their flight. The
interceptor is made of combustible envelope, fully consumed in the
explosion. Without the risk of shrapnel, Iron Fist provides an
effective, close-in protection for vehicles operating in dense, urban
environment. The use of close proximity, rather than "hit to kill"
mechanism avoids complex interception techniques and contributes to
reduced cost.
One of the main advantages of the Iron Fist is its integration into
routine operations. Its sensor provides essential input to situational
awareness systems, based on ground radar surveillance, moving target
detection, classification and tracking and motion detection.
Furthermore, by loading other types of projectiles, such as non
lethal, anti-personnel, smoke or illumination, the system can be used
in support of routine operation.
Iron Fist is supported by Israel's MOD Directorate for Defense
Research & Development (DDR&D). The program is designed to protect
medium and light vehicles, but based on its performance, has the
potential to be fielded on heavy armor as well. In future
configurations, the system has a growth potential to protect sensitive
elements of fixed installations or patrol boats, protecting from RPG
attacks, frequently encountered in counter insurgency operations.
At Eurosatory 2008 IMI unveiled an advanced version of the Iron Fist
active protection system developed for the protection of medium weight
armored protected vehicles such as the Wildcat on which it was
installed at the show. Iron Fist uses two twin-tube rotateable
launchers employing redesigned fin-stabilized canisters (compared to
the previous mortar-like ammunition used in the previous design). IMI
claims the canister has better aerodynamic qualities and is more
stable in flight, thus enabling the system to address treats at
various ranges. Made of composite casing fully consumed by the blast,
the system poses minimal risk of collateral damage to nearby troops or
non combatants. It is activated by command from the fire control
system, employing an Elta Systems conformal, distributed radar system
and an infrared sensor called Tandir, developed at Elbit Systems
Elisra. Redesigned as a multi-dimensional protection system, Iron-Fist
provides the crew with early warning and situational picture of
incoming threats, employing 'soft-kill' means at mid-range and only if
the threat is not eliminated by other means, intercepts it with
remotely detonated hard-kill munitions. Iron-Fist can handle multiple
targets simultaneously with different intercept methods, including
multiple countermeasures fired at two simultaneous threats at the same
sector.
June 2009: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is moving forward with the
development and fielding of active protection systems (APS) for tanks
and armored infantry fighting vehicles (AIFV). Maj. General Dan Harel,
IDF 2nd in Command has approved the acquisition of 'Iron Fist' APS for
the Namer AIFVs, parallel to the continued acquisition of Aspro-A
(Trophy) systems for the Merkava 4 tanks. Currently in advanced
developmental phase, Iron Fist is expected to provide multi-level
protection against anti-tank threats, from short range tandem-warhead
rockets that demonstrated their ability to defeat reactive armor, to
sophisticated, heavy guided missiles such as the Kornet, employed by
the Hezbollah during the 2006 2nd Lebanon War. The system has also
been designed to counter tank fired (kinetic) threats. Each Iron-Fist
system employs two turrets, containing two launch tubes firing the
interceptor projectile and several types of sensors, covering 360
degrees. The system can also include various countermeasures, which
could attempt to engage threats at extended range with 'soft kill',
saving 'hard kill' means as the last line of defense. By utilizing
soft launch techniques, firing loads generated by the Iron Fist are
reducing potential adverse effect on the platform's mobility or fire
accuracy.
http://defense-update.com/products/i/iron-fist.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSxdvkKoSC4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFnE2Z5bpk
http://judicial-inc.biz/Dense_Inert_Metal_Explosive.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IhXSNTG_k0&feature=PlayList&p=04B6D3C+60999830B&index=13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKEZ_fq561s&feature=Responses&parent_video=cx_6iiC0BnI&index=0&playnext=1&playnext_from=RL
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=5328
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message697865/pg1
http://artintifada.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/israel-dime-weapon-effect-on-gaza-article-and-gallery/
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/December/5%20o/US%20and%20Israel%20Targeting%20DNA%20in%20Gaza%20The%20DIME%20Bomb%20Yet%20Another%20Genotoxic%20Weapon,%20Part%20I%20By%20James%20Brooks.htm
http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&pg=aq&aqmode=s&aqa=gaza&aqp=dense+inert+metal+explosive&aqo=&aqn=&kgs=0&kls=0&dt=tmperiod&d2=0&dfr%5Bd%5D=1&dfr%5Bm%5D=1&dfr%5By%5D=1980&dto%5Bd%5D=15&dto%5Bm%5D=10&dto%5By%5D=2009&filetype=html&rc=dmn&swd=&lh=&nbq=50
http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&dt=tmperiod&d2=0&filetype=html&rc=dmn&swd=&nbq=50&pg=aq&aqmode=s&aqa=gaza+weapon&aqp=iron+fist&aqo=&aqn=&kgs=0&kls=0
http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&dt=tmperiod&d2=0&filetype=html&rc=dmn&swd=&nbq=50&pg=aq&aqmode=s&aqa=gaza+weapon+iron+fist+&aqp=dense+inert+metal&aqo=&aqn=&kgs=0&kls=0
--
A government, of Israel, by Israel, and, for: Israel.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light:
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. The light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not. The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. |
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