Surprise Launch: Israel Successfully Launches New 'Spy' Satellite

Without announcing the launch ahead of time, Israel successfully sent a military satellite into orbit Monday (July 6). The advanced "spy" satellite will help Israel with better monitoring of its "enemies."

At 4:00 a.m. local time (9:00 p.m. EDT, Sunday), Israel's Ministry of Defense and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) launched the Ofek 16 satellite from Palmachim airbase. What's interesting about the launch is that it was not announced to the public ahead of time. Instead, the Ministry of Defense simply tweeted that the satellite was successfully launched and "has begun its orbit in space" about an hour and a half after the liftoff.

Although Israel was low-key about the launch, it was open about the military nature of the satellite. Ofek 16 is an electro-optical reconnaissance satellite with "advanced capabilities” and, it will take hi-resolution images of the Earth for the Ministry of Defense.

With the "spy" satellite, Israel has improved its monitoring capabilities. For instance, it can better monitor possible missile tests or launches from Iran.

"The success of the Ofek 16 satellite very much increases our ability to act against Israel's enemies, near and far alike," Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting Monday. "It greatly expands our ability to act on land, at sea, in the air and also in space."

In a press release from IAI, Defense Minister Benny Gantz noted similar sentiments, calling the successful launch an "extraordinary achievement" for defense.

"Technological superiority and intelligence capabilities are essential to the security of the State of Israel," Gantz said. "We will continue to strengthen and maintain Israel's capabilities on every front, in every place."

Even with Israel's openness about the military nature of its satellite, it was not met with the same amount of condemnation that Iran received with its recent launches. Specifically, after the April launch of Iran's first military satellite, the country faced a backlash from countries such as the United States and Israel.

By comparison, Israel's surprise launch drew relatively little international attention.

The last known satellite launch from Israel was in 2016 with Ofek 11. All of Israel's satellites have had the "Ofek" designation, which was derived from a Hebrew word that means "horizon." The very first one was Ofek 1 that was launched in 1988 and, it was this launch that made Israel the eighth nation to develop its own orbital launch capability.

It is unclear whether the designations for Ofek 12, 13, 14 and 15 were skipped or simply used for other satellites that have yet to be launched.