Secret Israeli Missile Test Mistakenly Shown on Tv

Reality television has finally caught up with the Israeli military.

But the country's generals had no idea that their every move was being watched, their secret missile codes broadcast to their enemies or their conversations potentially overheard from Libya to Iran.

For two days this week, Israel's communications satellite accidentally beamed a live feed from the control room of a highly classified test missile firing, meaning that they could be viewed by anyone in the Middle East with the simplest satellite dish.

Four of Israel's most senior generals and their foreign guests were shown in the control room discussing the relative merits of weapons systems and who they might be used against. Officials were seen punching in launch codes, and the latest missile control equipment and maps were on full display to anyone viewing.

At one point, believing they were in a secure area, Israeli officials were heard discussing access codes to defence industry computers.

The broadcast went out when someone - as yet none of the various agencies involved wants to accept responsibility - failed to encrypt the live feed that is sent from one weapons-testing control room to another via the satellite.

The mistake became known to the broader public after an Israeli television station taped the preparations and the missile launch over 48 hours, and then broadcast segments to the nation.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth called it "one of the most embarrassing fiascos ever to happen to the security establishment".

The defence contractor that developed the missile in question, Israel Aircraft Industries, tried to claim otherwise. "This is a completely unclassified project," its security officer, Naor Zeidman, told Ha'aretz newspaper. "Had this been anything connected to the Israel defence forces, I assure you that there would have been IDF encryption on the launch."

But that was not what Channel 10 television found when it told the army it planned to broadcast the feed.

Considerable pressure was put on the station not to screen the footage. The military censor ordered significant cuts to the news report, including reference to anything that identified the type, range and flight path of the test missile.

Perhaps the most embarrassing part of the fiasco was the test firing itself, from a barge off the coast. The missile was supposed to fly straight for three minutes and then hit a target at sea. But after two minutes it strayed from its course and fell into the water.

The defence contractor was terse on the subject. "Not all the goals of the test were achieved," it said.