To target Israel, Iran’s ‘suitcase’ GPS kits turn Hezbollah rockets into guided missiles

Military sources say Iran is refitting thousands of ‘dumb’ rockets in Syria and Lebanon so it can zero in on targets the length and breadth of Israel.

TEL AVIV –  The Warsaw Conference on Middle East Peace and Security last week didn’t seem to deliver much in the way of peace or security for the assorted countries attending. There was, to be sure, a lot of tough talk against Iran and the projection of a united front as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior Arab officials all gathered in one room. Yet far away from the bright lights of the Trump-engineered summit, on the business end of the battle against Iran, Israeli security officials have a singular preoccupation: suitcases.

In interviews with The Daily Beast, senior Israeli military officers outlined new details about Iran’s plans to turn a vast arsenal of relatively dumb rockets in Syria and Lebanon into a deadly array of precision-guided missiles. The key, according to Israel, is a Global Positioning System (GPS) “kit” the size of small roll-aboard luggage…

For the most part, it seems, small suitcase-sized GPS components that, with the right technical ability, can be installed into any (dumb) unguided rocket, turning it into a (smart) precision-guided missile capable of landing within meters of a target.

There’s much to recommend this approach from Iran’s point of view. Bigger weapons systems are easier to track and destroy; the suitcases, on the other hand, can be transferred discreetly from Iran on the ground (via Iraq) or through the air into either Syria or Lebanon.