The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has increased the number of exercises to prepare its bases for missile attacks and to ensure the ability to continue operations during a war.

The drills are sometimes carried out on a weekly basis and include the entire base, whereas others include specific units.

The IAF has increased the drills throughout its bases following assessments that extremists will use missiles against IAF bases in a future conflict.

The Jerusalem Post quoted IAF sources as saying that bases are expected to operate even when under missile attack.

“Redundancy is extremely important since we cannot take a chance that if a depot is hit we will not have an additional storage centre.

“Soldiers need to know that this is a real threat that could happen and we have to be prepared to continue operating even if missiles are hitting around us,” the officer said.