Doctrine Supplement

Israel DEAD SOP¶

Planning and employment notes for Israeli DEAD loadouts, with focus on Delilah TV and GBU-54.

Parameters¶

Max range: 189 nm (ignore DLZ)
Max effective range: 150 nm (ignore DLZ)
Ideal release range: 80 nm for about 4 minutes time of flight to terminal
Flight time: 22 minutes
Effect: ADA, small light vehicles, and radar dishes Not suitable for hardened targets, runways, and similar targets

Training¶

Study the Dash-1 material for the Delilah and laser-guided JDAM (GBU-54).
Refresh TGP skills, including creating mark points with the pod and sending data to the flight.

Planning¶

Standard DEAD loadout is a combo of GBU-54 and Delilah TV within a flight. In 4.34, IR weapons are unreliable and targets are difficult to capture, so use the TV variant. Effective capture range is about 10 nm with the IR variant and 30+ nm with the TV variant.

Mark possible AAA positions in the briefing within 30 nm of the furthest planned flight path. Examples include EWR sites, towns, and factories. These pre-briefed positions are important because they may be referenced during the flight.
Brief cover, altitude, and deconfliction plans while employing Delilah. Brief final attack heading and egress direction.
The shooter can be at most 150 nm away from the weapon in flight. It is possible to fire and then egress behind CAP or FLOT while guiding the weapon.
Brief WPN steerpoints versus TGT steerpoints when applicable.
Brief weapon release range.
Max effective range is safe for the shooter but is usually unsuitable for pop-up engagements because of long flight times. Ideal release range should be used for most engagements.

Tactics¶

GBU-54¶

GBU-54 can be used on moving AAA and on SAMs with less than 8 nm effective range when lofted from altitude. It is a safe primary engagement method against SA-3s, SHORADs, and guns. Use it with the TGP, with the option of laser terminal guidance or WPN steerpoints for GPS-coordinate attacks.

Delilah¶

Use Case¶

Use Delilah on SA-2, Hawk, Patriot, SA-10, and other strategic SAMs.

Procedure¶

Fire at the briefed range using steerpoint SPI (CZ) from 20-25k feet while supported by a wingman.
Fly the pre-briefed egress direction and position.
Wingman covers the shooter until the shooter's attack is complete.
Reset and brief the next attack.

While one pilot can have multiple weapons in the air, there should be a maximum of two weapon-operating pilots in the flight at any given time while the others cover. It is easy to lose situational awareness while heads-down guiding the missile.

You can also use Delilah against pop-up threats, but this is more dangerous because capturing a pop-up strategic SAM often requires being inside its engagement envelope. In this case it is better to have a wingman flying defensively, using speed and terrain masking as needed, trying to capture the site, marking a steerpoint with the pod, and sending data to the rest of the flight while the shooter remains 50+ nm away from suspected targets and prepared to fire.

Alternatively, for a more conservative engagement, the shooter can fire on pre-briefed positions by hooking those positions in the HSD and then use the Delilah as a remote UAV to capture and engage. The tradeoff is the risk of losing a weapon if the anticipated position is not occupied.

Cloud Masking¶

Cruise altitude for the Delilah can be modified from the control page and is represented in flight level. For example, 080 means 8,000 feet. This can be changed even after the weapon is off the rail, which allows response to obscured targets by changing cruise altitude as needed.

Meta Notes¶

The GBU-39 is probably a viable alternative to the GBU-54 and would allow strategic SAM engagements, but it is unclear whether Israel ever received an approved shipment from 2009.
The AGM-88 HARM is in the same category. It was offered in 2013 but not confirmed as purchased.
Video of Israeli DEAD IRL from 2019