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Originally Posted by rathi  I agree that Israel will not hesitate to spend what it takes to insure the removal of the Iranian nuclear program. I also agree that it is quite possible to destroy Iranian facilities with current missile stocks. However, Iran may retaliate with its own Shahab missiles, sparking a more long term conflict. Israel would certainly attempt to prevent the missile attacks, requiring significantly more missiles to disrupt Iranian industry and launch sites. Israel could probably make sacrifices to obtain the money for such weapons, but the time needed to manufacture wouldn't change. Israel could take heavy losses before it could obtain enough weapons to neutralize Iranian ability to perform missile attacks. |
As far as missile production, Israel is entirely self-sufficient. It would take quite a long war indeed to exhaust the missile inventory.
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Originally Posted by rathi
I know that an Predator was destroyed by an Iraqi Mig-25 and that one or more Hermes operated by Georgia were shot by Russia.
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That Predator was of 2002 vintage. The Hermes is a generic UAV which is sold to, well... the Georgia's of the world.
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Originally Posted by rathi A UAV has no defenses, so if spotted it is dead. I'm not sure if Iranian air defenses could spot a UAV, but its combat air patrols certainly would probably be able to find and eliminate them. |
If you say so.
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Originally Posted by rathi I don't think anyone has operated UAVs in quantity in a hostile airspace facing decent opposition before, so I can't really stand on precedent. |
Lol. The Iranian Air Force is no prize. Even the Kingdom's air force could slice and dice them without working up a sweat. IAF UAVs regularly visit all of Israel's neighbors. None have been shot down. Quite a fair portion of the havoc visited upon Lebanon was either directed by or accomplished by UAVs.
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Originally Posted by rathi Overall, I think Israel is going to make sure it can minimize damage from a possible Iranian counteract before taking any military action. They might end up making a deal to get a closer airbase or just stocknpile enough missiles to handle a longer conflict. |
There is no way to mitigate all damage and contingencies. No plan will ever be foolproof or without hazard. Quite simply, there comes a point where you go with what you have and do the very best that you can.