IAI Ofeq-13

Ofeq-13, also written Ofek-13 and known as TecSAR-3, is an Israeli synthetic-aperture radar observation satellite of the Ofeq family, designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries for the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces, and operated by the military intelligence Unit 9900. It was launched on 29 March 2023 Israel time, which was 28 March at 23:10 UTC, from Palmachim Airbase on a Shavit 2 launcher. Like the Ofeq satellites before it, it was sent westward over the Mediterranean into a retrograde orbit, so that spent rocket stages fall into the sea and not on populated land. A radar satellite can image the ground at night and through cloud, which an optical satellite cannot, and Ofeq-13 follows Ofeq-8 and Ofeq-10 as the third satellite of the TecSAR line that IAI built around that kind of sensor. Public sources state little about its mass, orbit or current operating state.