Malaysian academic:

Israel's surprise attack on Egypt in 1967 is a warning to Taiwan

• Chinese aviation continues to penetrate the airspace of Taiwan.

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• Egyptian aviation was completely destroyed at the airports during the 1967 war. Archive

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Nearly five decades after the 1967 war, which erupted between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan, between the fifth and 10th of June of that year, and the subsequent military gains in the interest of Israel, there are still lessons learned that can be drawn.

Israel carried out several air sorties months before the 1967 war, and those sorties eventually helped in what Israel achieved in military gains, and today China is carrying out similar flights across Taiwan, in a repetition that goes back to the events that preceded that war.

Professor of Strategic Studies, Deputy Director of Research at the Center for Defense and International Security Studies at the National Defense University in Malaysia, Dr. Adam Leong Kok Wei, said in a report published by the American magazine “National Interest” that exactly 54 years ago, the Israeli Air Force launched sudden air strikes on the morning of Sunday. On June 5, 1967, against the main Egyptian airports, air defense sites, and command and control centers at the beginning of the "Six Day War".

By the afternoon, the Israeli Air Force had attacked 17 Egyptian airfields with about 500 sorties.

Air Force Destruction

He adds that the Egyptian Air Force lost more than 200 aircraft that were destroyed, most of which were on the ground. The Israeli Air Force also attacked airports in Syria, Jordan and Iraq, and gained air superiority over the areas of operations in the ground stages by that evening.

Adam Leung says the sudden air strikes enabled Israeli ground forces to quickly penetrate deep into the Sinai Peninsula, and by June 10, Israel had occupied the Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

The air raids, which destroyed the air power of Israel's opponents, facilitated these "stunning victories", provided the IDF ground forces with the ability to advance unimpeded by the other side's aircraft, and allowed the IAF to conduct relatively freely their close air support missions and intercept strikes. on the battlefield.

Adam Leung asks: “How did the Israeli Air Force manage to launch such a sudden air strike on Egypt?

What strategic lessons can be drawn from this event for Taiwan today?

above average flights

He says: “For years, the Israeli Air Force conducted flights over the Negev desert, and collected intelligence along the way. At first, the Egyptians tracked these flights with their radars, and sent fighters from time to time to intercept them, but after a while they got used to these flight procedures and did not take them seriously. For two years prior to the start of the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force was conducting almost daily morning flights over the Mediterranean.

He explained that the planes of the Israeli forces were flying at a low altitude, disappearing from the Egyptian radar screens before appearing again on the return flight, and he added: “When the Israelis launched their sudden air strikes on the morning of the fifth of June, the Egyptian Air Defense personnel discovered what they believed to be air activities. The IAF's successful deception scheme was built to conceal its sudden air strikes, over several months of continuous, regular patterns of seemingly non-threatening flights.

Similarities

Adam Leung said this appears to have similarities with the Chinese Air Force's continuous flight today within the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone. Since last year, those forces have sent planes flying over the Taiwanese airspace almost every day, regularly crossing the middle line. From January to October 2020, the Taiwan Air Force fired its fighters 2,972 times to intercept Chinese Air Force aircraft, which were flying within the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone, and the Taiwan Ministry of Defense began publishing information about these incursions in mid-September 2020.

The constant scramble of planes every time to intercept the Chinese air force's incursion was not cheap, given, for example, to jet fuel, and it cost Taiwan about $1 billion, or 9% of its defense budget for 2020. Besides, the intense regular scrambling of the forces' planes has caused The Taiwanese Air Force also depreciated combat aircraft as a result of use, which led to high maintenance costs and a decrease in the number of ready-to-work fighters.

By late March of this year, the costs of the fighting fighters finally affected Taiwan's resources, and the Taiwanese forces decided not to send their planes every time the Chinese air force entered the region, but would use their radars and air defense missile systems to track the planes of the Chinese air force.

The frequency of flights

But China did not reduce the frequency of its almost daily flights in the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone, and on April 12, the Chinese Air Force conducted its largest flight so far, with 25 aircraft, including 14 Shenyang J-16 attack fighters and four multi-nuclear combat aircraft. Chengdu J-10 and four Xi'an H-6 strategic bombers.

Adam Leung concludes that there are many allegations about the alleged intentions of these sorties by the Chinese Air Force, including maritime surveillance of the strategic Bashi Canal, and a show of force against the Taiwanese military and US naval operations.

He says, however, that the strategic similarities between China's overflights and Israel's air deception campaign against Egypt just months before the Six-Day War, which produced amazing results, cannot easily be ignored.

It is noteworthy that Egypt and Syria fought a sudden war against Israel on October 6, 1973, in which the two countries achieved their goals, and that was preceded by deception and misleading campaigns at all levels, which Israel could not monitor.

• It is not easy to ignore the strategic similarities between the Chinese overflights and the Israeli air deception campaign against Egypt, months before the “Six Day War” which yielded amazing results.

• For two years prior to the start of the “Six Day War,” the Israeli Air Force was conducting almost daily morning flights over the Mediterranean.

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