Israeli Fighter Plane Breaks Voice Barriers In Lebanon, What Impact?

Israeli fighter jet/PHOTO via Instagram @stateofisrael

JAKARTA - Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.

Lebanese National News Agency said enemy warplanes had breached a low-altitude sound barrier in Beirut and the suburbs and other parts of Lebanon. In Beirut, residents felt two explosions, reported by Reuters, Tuesday, July 23.

There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has been concurrently with the Gaza war for nine months. Although most of the conflict only occurs in areas near the border, the conflict has raised fears of a wider war.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was the worst since the two countries were involved in a massive war in 2006.

Khalil Badminton, retired general of the Lebanese army and vice president of the Lebanese-Message association, spoke with L'Orient-Le Jour about this tactic.

Normally, aircraft fly at subsonic speed, which is below the speed of sound, which is about 340 m/second or more than 1,200 km/hour.

When the plane emits a sound, it emits accreted wave around it. When the pilot accelerates and exceeds the speed of sound, it breaks this wave in a certain way.

This is what gives rise to an explosion-like sound. This explosion can break windows, drop objects. It's like a very strong gust of wind, which lasts less than a second.

The roof of a building even collapsed on Sunday in Nagatieh, Lebanon. Usually this doesn't happen. If this roof collapses, it's because the building doesn't meet the standards.

It was explained that there were three reasons why Israel broke the sound barrier.

First, Israel wants to remind Hezbollah they have air supremacy in the Lebanese sky. This is clearly the case, because until now, Hezbollah's surface-to-air missiles have not produced anything, other than shooting down some drones. This is a way to maintain prevention.

The second impact is of course psychological. The goal is to demoralize party supporters, to scare them, being asked by L'Orient-Le Jour.

But there is a third reason, which is more technical and less well known: Breaking the sound barrier can help detect enemy radars.

Hezbollah has a radar system that can detect Israeli aircraft or missiles in several ways: heat, communication beam, and sound.

Therefore, an Israeli pilot can break the sound barrier to force Hezbollah's radar activation and thus detect this equipment as well as its communications or transmission.