Behind the scenes of this morning's attempted aircraft hijacking: As part of its mission to defend the state's skies and borders, the Israeli Air Force maintains continuous readiness to confront a range of airborne threats and prevent penetration of Israeli airspace. All IAF systems operate around the clock to monitor the area, identify anomalies and threats, and provide rapid response to any incident that could develop into a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens.
Sources involved in the details describe how defence of the state's skies is based on continuous aerial situational awareness, forces on standby, and the ability to scramble and deploy aircraft within short timeframes. As part of this, various scenarios are routinely drilled, with the aim of enabling early detection, rapid closure of loops, and real-time decision-making.
Those same sources say that one of the drilled responses is a dedicated protocol designed to deal with unusual incidents involving civilian aircraft making their way to Israel, including preventing the possibility of an airborne terror attack.
The protocol can be activated in a variety of scenarios: an aircraft deviating from its planned flight path, an aircraft not responding to radio calls, an aircraft transmitting a distress signal, a technical malfunction in the aircraft, or a medical incident involving one of the passengers requiring an emergency landing.
When the protocol is activated, operations are carried out to defend the airspace, and if necessary Israeli airspace is closed and fighter jets are scrambled to identify and escort the civilian aircraft. At the same time, a continuous situation assessment is conducted until the circumstances of the incident are understood and the concern is removed.
The Air Force drills the protocol routinely, with emphasis on closing loops within short timeframes and rapid decision-making. The relevant forces are required to know how to move within a short time from identifying a deviation or suspicious sign to understanding the situation and activating the appropriate response.
It is important to note that activation of the protocol does not necessarily indicate suspicion of a security incident. It is activated from time to time also following technical malfunctions, communication problems, deviation from route, or human error by crews of aircraft making their way to Israel. From the Air Force's perspective, every unusual incident is examined and handled until the concern is removed and clarification of the situation is complete — and that is what happened this morning, in what is now confirmed to be a real and verified terror incident.
