Israel replaces Patriot with David’s Sling

Israel's multi-layered air defense system proved itself last month during Iran's unprecedented attack, in which it targeted the country with 110 ballistic missiles, 185 drones and 36 cruise missiles. Following the successful interception of all these missiles, the IAF is bidding farewell to the Patriot surface-to-air missile defense systems (SAM), known as Yahalom in the IDF.

This is the oldest air defense system, and its roots, from Israel's point of view, go back to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's trip to the United States in 1962, after which Israel received five Hawk batteries as a gift from President John F. Kennedy. . Patriot is an upgraded version of Hawkeye.

Today, Israel's air defense system relies on four Israeli-made systems: Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow 2, and Arrow 3. However, in the wake of events over the past six months, some wonder whether phasing out Patriot missiles could harm In Israel. Air defense capabilities.

What goals was the Patriot designed for and what threats did it confront?

Patriot is a system designed for a wide range of threats such as drones, aircraft, combat helicopters and ballistic missiles including long-range threats and had its first firing in the Gulf War in 1991. The first interception was by Yahalom in 1991. Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Against a drone launched from the Gaza Strip. From 2014 to date, Patriot batteries have intercepted 19 threats, nine of them in the current war.

If the regime intercepted the threats in the current war, why dispense with them?

A professional source familiar with the issue told Globes that the system will be replaced by the Rafael David Sling system, which as part of Israel's multi-layered air defense system focuses on intercepting short- and medium-range threats. While Israel refrained from upgrading the Patriot batteries, it did so in May 2023.

Rafael's David's Sling is a collaboration that demonstrates the combined strength of the Israeli defense industry. The system's MMR radar is manufactured by the ELTA unit of Israel Aviation Industries (IAI) and is more powerful than the Patriot radar, enabling point-of-launch detection, real-time point-of-impact rate calculation, as well as range correction. Then there is the Golden Almond command and control system, developed by Elbit Systems Elisra unit.

The end result is that David's Sling is an Israeli product very close to the level of the PAC-3, the most advanced interceptor in the Patriot series but much cheaper. While each PAC-3 interceptor costs about $6 million, David's Sling interceptors cost Israel about $700,000 each, making David's Sling better for Israel than Patriot.

What are the total costs of David's Sling compared to Patriot?

Last year, Finland purchased the David's Sling system from Israel for 316 million euros (about $336 million). The system is being developed by the Ministry of Defense MAFAT DDR&D (Directorate of Defense Research and Development) together with the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the main domestic production costs significantly reduce costs compared to the prices of the system produced abroad. In addition to the economic benefits, there is the knowledge gained through developing the system, especially since David's Sling is a national system designed to cover specific areas complementary to Iron Dome.

For comparison's sake, a December 2022 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) titled “Patriot for Ukraine: What Does It Mean?” He said purchasing a new Patriot battery costs $1.1 billion, including about $400 million for the system and about $690 million for the interceptors.

What other layers does the Israeli air defense system include?

Above David's Sling are the Arrow 3 extra-atmospheric ballistic missile interception system and the Arrow 2 intra-atmospheric missile interception system – both manufactured by IAI. Under David's Sling is another system produced by Rafael – Iron Dome for short-range threats. The Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 equipped with David's Sling did most of the work intercepting missiles fired by Iran last month.

With the costs of intercepting missiles launched from Iran estimated at more than $1 billion, with each Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptor costing about $1.5 million and $2 million respectively, if Israel had used similar American systems, the cost would have been even more expensive. Much. . The cost of intercepting the American THAAD system, equivalent to Arrow 2 and Arrow 3, is estimated at approximately $11.2 million, according to a professional source familiar with the costs. He points out that when Saudi Arabia decided to buy seven THAAD batteries, it paid about $2 billion for each battery.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on May 1, 2024.

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