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TEL AVIV, Israel: The Israel Air Force has used its home-built Delilah air-to-surface standoff missiles in combat for the first time, a new report says.
Jane's Defense Weekly reported Nov. 15 that the Israeli Air Force first used the air-launched Delilah on its U.S.-built F-16D fighter aircraft during Israeli military operations in Lebanon during July and August. “The IAF has released footage showing a Delilah deployed against a convoy of trucks suspected of transferring weapons from Syria into Lebanon for the Islamic Resistance: the armed wing of the Lebanese Shi'ite Party of God (Hezbollah). The footage was taken from the Delilah's electro-optic payload,” Jane's said.
“IMI is now launching a marketing effort aimed at the European naval market, offering the air-launched version of the Delilah, with a 150-km (90-mile) range, as a high-precision weapon capable of deep strikes against surface targets both at sea and on shore,” Jane's said.
Jane's said IMI believed some European navies, including the British Royal Navy, were seriously assessing the Delilah as their choice for the “next-generation long-range, air-launched, anti-surface warfare weapon.”
