Sensitive Israeli Missile Test Mistakenly Broadcast Via Satellite
By BARBARA OPALL-ROME
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 01:48 pm ET, 18 November 2003
TEL AVIV Israels Long Range Artillery (LORA) missile burst from secrecys shadows last week, much sooner than the Ministry of Defense or the prime contractor had planned.
It wasnt a calculated media campaign or a high-profile exhibition at an international trade show that heralded the LORAs debut. Instead, a secret Nov. 5 test of the developmental missile was inadvertently broadcast via satellite from the restricted-access launch control room of government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI).
To make matters worse, the missile failed miserably in the sea-launched trial, spiraling wildly out of control before plunging into the Mediterranean.
The embarrassing show broadcast by Israels IAI-developed Amos 1 communication satellite was available to anyone in the Middle East and points in Europe equipped with an ordinary 1-meter antenna dish.
"This blunder had nothing to do with a specific satellite, and everything to do with the weird and inexplicable fact that the transmission was not encrypted," said David Pollack, managing director of SpaceCom Ltd., operator of the Amos satellite. "Any satellite could have picked it up, since it all depended on where they pointed their dish. The fact that this normal, civilian transmission was carried by Amos 1 appears to have added insult to injury."
The disclosure led officials from the Ministry of Defense and IAI officials to acknowledge the systems existence first reported Sept. 22 in Defense News but its newly acquired public profile did not persuade them to provide operational or technical details of the missile.
One Israeli source described the solid-fueled LORA as a hybrid missile and artillery projectile. "This missile is something in between," the source said. "You can say its a semi-ballistic missile or a semi-cruise missile or a large, guided rocket system."
According to the source, LORA is designed to carry a heavy warhead weighing about 600 kilograms at ranges that are unlikely to exceed 200 kilometers. In a previous test, the missile traveled some 180 kilometers. LORA is designed to be mounted on ships, trucks or towed vehicles.
A Marketing Presentation
In a Nov. 6 statement following a heavily censored broadcast of the test by Israels Channel 10 News Ministry of Defense spokeswoman Rachel Naidek-Ashkenazi noted that the missile was considered unclassified, and that the test was conducted purely for marketing purposes.
"The test was conducted within the framework of a marketing presentation and defined as unclassified," according to the statement. "The fact that there was a satellite communications line is a mishap that will be investigated and proper conclusions will be reached."
Naidek-Ashkenazi said that in classified missile tests, the Israeli defense establishment uses fully encrypted frequencies, not commercial ones, to broadcast video and voice data to viewers of IAIs in-house, closed-circuit network.Nevertheless, Alon Ben-David, the senior defense correspondent from Israels Channel 10 news who initially broke the story Nov. 5, said the Minstry of Defense put tremendous pressure on him and his management to refrain from broadcasting the missile launch.
In a Nov. 6 interview, Ben-David said initial satellite broadcasts picked up by a Channel 10 technician included not only video from IAIs secure control room, but sensitive technical data about the missiles range, flight path and other military systems used to conduct and monitor the test.
Even more astounding, noted Ben-David,
were audible exchanges among senior industry officials and technicians gathered in the control room to witness the launch. He said the uncensored version of the satellite broadcast included discussions of computer passwords and access codes associated with the missile launch.Among those filmed and recorded by mistake were Moshe Keret, IAI chief executive officer; Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, deputy chief of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff; Maj. Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal, head of Land Forces Command; and Rear Adm. Eli Marom, deputy commander of the Israel Navy.
"Like any TV station, we have our own satellite dishes, and every morning we routinely screen all the known channels," Ben-David said. "A couple days before the launch, our technician just stumbled on this, and, initially, we didnt understand what we were watching. It didnt make any sense. We thought for sure, in a minute or two, theyd fix it and stop the broadcast. But it just went on and on."
Ben-David said Channel 10 ultimately subjected their story to Israeli military censors, who blocked out missile performance data, images of many military personnel present, and sensitive conversations picked up among dignitaries in attendance.
"We submitted our report to the censor, but what about the intelligence agencies of any hostile country in the region from Libya to Lebanon who could easily have stumbled on the broadcast just like we did," Ben-David said.
A Terrible Incident
Ephraim Sneh, chairman of the Israeli parliaments subcommittee for defense planning, said the security breach was particularly grave, despite the defense establishments efforts to minimize the damage to national security.
"This was a terrible incident; and it requires a thorough investigation. And those who are responsible for such damaging blunders must be punished," said Sneh, a former deputy minister of defense with close ties to the defense industry and the military establishment.
As for the role of IAI, or the industry-monitoring self-policing unit within the Ministry of Defense responsible for maintaining security at all defense industrial facilities, a senior government official did not rule out negligence, but also left open the possibility of sabotage.
Although this official declined to speak for the record, he suggested that in so-called point-to-point broadcasts, "anyone with an antennae pointed in the same direction can pick up the transmission."
The official declined to explain why, then, transmission of the sensitive missile test was not fully encrypted.
"Were investigating, from a technical and a procedural point of view, the flaws from yesterday [Nov. 5] afternoon," said Doron Suslik, IAI deputy vice president of corporate communications. "Wed like to think that hackers just cant tap in."
Suslik insisted that the missile or the subject of the test itself was not classified, although the inadvertent broadcast proved to be an embarrassing breach of proprietary data that could damage future business prospects.
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