Sdot Micha Air Force Base

Sdot Micha Air Wing 2 air base ; , location in Israel:
	Sdot Micha Airbase
	Sdot Micha Airbase
Characteristics
Coordinates	31 ° 44 ′ 19 ″ N , 34 ° 55 ′ 10 ″ E Coordinates: 31 ° 44 ′ 19 ″ N , 34 ° 55 ′ 10 ″ E
Basic data
opening	Early 1970s
operator	Israeli Air Force

The Sdot Micha Air Force Base ( Hebrew שדות האלה) is a missile base and depot of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) , the existence of which is neither confirmed nor denied by Israel . It is located in the middle of the country, about halfway between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea, and extends over a length of almost 13 km from southeast to northwest. Its center is 1.5 km north of the Sdot Micha moshav .

Surname

The name Sdot Micha for the base is not official as Israel does not comment on it, but it is used in most publications worldwide. Occasionally it is also called Sedot Mikha , Zekharia , Zachariah or Zekharyeh , after another nearby moshaw . In July 2017, the Israeli Army (IDF) briefly admitted the existence of a base called Sdot Ha'ela , which it has not done in the past. However, after the press reported it, the relevant document disappeared from the IDF website. It has not yet been mentioned on the Air Force website. Ha'ela , Ha-Ela or HaEla is the name of a stream that runs along the southern edge of the moshav Sdot Micha, but which has dried up for most of the year. There is no official place Ha'ela .

Missiles

The base is considered to be the location of the Israeli medium-range missiles of the Jericho 2 type and the Jericho 3 ICBMs , both of which can be armed with nuclear warheads. Probable locations of the bunkered Jericho mobile missiles: ⊙ and ⊙ . The base with its launch positions for mobile missiles can be clearly seen on satellite images, which also serves as a deterrent. 31.729972222222 34.92936111111131.746805555556 34.933388888889

The network of paths with the mobile launching positions is located at the specified coordinates between chains of hills, which has the advantage that the rocket bunkers could be built as caves in the natural limestone cliffs there and only had to be provided with massive doors in order to withstand even atomic explosions - Except for direct hits. Due to their location, these positions are also protected from prying eyes from the outside.

The distance from the Sdot Micha launch sites to Tehran is about 1500 km. Since both Jericho missile types are said to have much longer ranges (see sources), the whole of Iran is within their target area. In the opposite direction, there is a risk that inaccurate and insufficiently targeted Iranian missiles could also hit Jerusalem and the Islamic sites there.

According to information from Jane's Defense Weekly , Sdot Micha is also a location for the new Arrow 3 missile , which can launch incoming nuclear missiles at high altitudes. This was developed jointly by Israel and the USA and has been deployed there since the beginning of 2017. On the base, four mobile launchers, each with six rockets, are said to be installed in underground bunkers that can withstand nuclear explosions. The US accidentally disclosed the exact location of these four bunkers: ⊙ . 31.755138888889 34.909888888889

Israel has all of its larger missiles developed and built in the MLM Division Missile Factory in Beer Jaʿakov , 20 km to the northwest : ⊙ . This is a branch of the IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) . The finished rockets will be transported on a nearby railway line from Beer Jaʿakov to the Sdot Micha Airbase. 31.929194444444 34.835194444444

Others

Directly northwest of the base is the Tel Nof military airfield , on which F-15 fighter jets are stationed, which can carry free-falling atomic bombs . It is believed that these are stored somewhere in the northwestern part of Sdot Micha, where there are many depots and bunkers: ⊙ . 31.795916666667 34.854222222222

history

Before the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 , the Arab-Palestinian village of Al-Burayj was located on the site of today's military base , but its inhabitants fled or were expelled in the course of the fighting.

units

150th squadron Jericho missiles

199th squadron of Jericho missiles

248th squadron Jericho missiles

4 launchers with 6 Arrow 3 missiles each

Shavit (civil Jericho 2) missile on launch in June 2007
The third stage rocket of a Shavit / Jericho 2 with the logo of the IAI
Test start of an Arrow 3 on February 25, 2013
The site of the 1948 base with the Arab-Palestinian village of Al-Burayj
Map of the depot and the air force base with clearly recognizable missile positions