The Military Balance

The military equipment of both Israel and its opponents is roughly equal in sophistication and destructive power, although the Arabs' equipment is newer since they have had to replace their massive losses of the Six-Day War. Israel compensates for its numerical inferiority by the superior discipline and training of its troops and expert maintenance of equipment. Israeli pilots in their U.S.-built F-4 Phantoms and Skyhawks and French Mirages have consistently outflown the Egyptian and Syrian air forces in their Russian-made SU-7 fighter-bombers and MIG-21 interceptors.

Similarly, Israeli troops have used their American Patton and British Centurion tanks more effectively than the Arabs have their lighter Russian-made T-54/55s. Neither side has had much opportunity to test how effectively they use the surface-to-air missiles protecting their base areas and cities. But by sinking four of Syria's Soviet-built Komar missile boats off Latakia on Saturday, the Israeli navy has shown how skillfully it has mastered the made-in-Israel radar-guided Gabriel missiles. Most Western military analysts expect the Israeli forces to defeat the combined Arab forces. But if Israel should find itself facing extinction, it is widely assumed that it possesses nuclear weapons, which its leaders might risk the wrath of world opinion by employing. Israel is thought to have an arsenal of low-yield bombs in the kiloton range that can be delivered by specially adapted Israeli air force planes.

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