WAR.WIRE
Israeli missile test spooked by US spy planes
 WASHINGTON (AFP) Mar 08, 2005
 The presence of US spy planes prompted Israel to delay a test of its Long Range Artillery missile earlier this month, Defense News reported Tuesday. The missile was test-fired two days later instead, scoring a direct hit.

The Long Range Artillery missile is a deep strike, satellite guided weapon similar to the US-made Army Tactical Missile System or the US Navy's Standard Missile, according to the weekly, which cited Israeli military and defense industry sources.

The Israeli Defense Ministry planned closed territorial waters in the Mediterannean and airspace over it for three hours March 1 in preparation for the test.

But as the Israelis prepared for the countdown, a US Navy P-3 maritime patrol aircraft entered the area and remained on station, prompting agitation in the launch control room, Defense News said.

The P-3 was followed by a high flying U-2 spy plane, it said. That set off high-level communications between the Israelis, the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and the US Sixth Fleet in Naples, Italy.

"Requests were made repeatedly to get those planes to move from the area. Meanwhile, one 30-minute delay was followed by another 30-minute delay and then some more waiting until we got to the point where we had to shut down the test," Defense News quoted an Israeli source as saying.

A senior Israeli military official suggested the US spy planes wanted to capture data on the test.

"The Americans are curious. They wanted to watch," the official was quoted as saying.

The weekly said the missile was successfully tested two days later, scoring a direct hit on a sea-based target 200 kilometers from the launch site on the Israeli coast.

It was the third of four successful tests of the missile.