Israel’s million dollar defense missile

On Wednesday, Israel intercepted a rocket from Gaza over central Israel using the David’s Sling missile defense system for the first time.

Islamic Jihad’s rocket arsenal is less impressive than the missiles at the disposal of Hamas and Hezbollah. This is reflected in the fact that as of Thursday noon 594 rockets had been fired towards Israel, only 394 rockets had been fired across the border and 124 landed in Gaza. In other words, 22% of the rockets fired by Islamic Jihad during Operation Shield and Arrow failed to reach Israel. Of the 391 rockets reaching Israel, 175 that were to fall on populated areas were intercepted by Iron Dome, which has a 95% success rate in the current operation.

Iron Dome, a short-range line of defense in Israel’s layered missile defense system, was manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and was first operated during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and through Operation Protective Edge recorded a 90% success rate in intercepting missiles. . Iron Dome includes search and guidance radar, command and control features, and Tamir missile interceptors, which cost $50,000 each.

The next layer in Israel’s air missile defense is the David’s Sling system, designed to intercept short to medium range threats including ballistic missiles, sea-launched missiles, aircraft missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. David’s Sling was developed by the Israeli HOMA Department of MAFAT (Management for Weapons Development and Technology Infrastructure) in the Ministry of Defense and the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), led by Rafael and Raytheon.

David’s Sling includes a multi-mission radar (MMR), developed by the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) ELTA unit. The Golden Almond command and control system was developed by Elbit Systems Elisra Division. The United States was a partner in both the development and financing of the project and could interact with US defense systems.

“Jihad and Iran have realized that there is a new player in the game.”

“The cool thing about David’s Sling and Iron Dome and the Arrow (Israel’s long-range missile defense system) is that they know how to distinguish Yehoshua Kalesky, a senior research fellow at the National Defense Research Institute at Tel Aviv University and a former top Defense Ministry official, told Globes. It’s unlike Iron Dome, which detonates very close to the target, David’s slingshot hits the missile directly at the target, he explained. “The great thing about David’s sling is its maneuverability. It is moving at a supersonic speed of more than Mach 7, and no Islamic Jihad or Hamas missile has the ability to deal with it.”

The first operational use of the David Handle during Operation Shield and Arrow, which was successfully completed, is encouraging, but it is important to remember that the force of related launches by Islamic Jihad cannot be compared to the force we will see in the Hamas regimes. Moreover, each interception by the system is much more expensive than Iron Dome, with each interceptor missile costing about $1 million.

Kaleski added that “Islamic Jihad is not able to push Israel to the limits.” He believes that the aim of the current escalation is an Iranian desire to test how Israel will defend itself against missiles.

He said that “David Sling’s success was a blow to them, which is the fact that after the objection they started talking about a cease-fire.” “They were shocked, and they realized that there was a new player on the field. It is true that Islamic Jihad has fewer capabilities than Hamas, but it is known from experience that time is on their side. After all, Hamas started with the Qassam, which Shimon Peres called “flying pipes,” Today you can reach Netanya.”

IAI cooperates with the United States

The next, higher, class is Arrow 2, designed to intercept medium and long-range missiles, developed and produced by IAI. It consists of three main systems: Gold Etrog Zahav, the command and control center considered one of the most advanced in the world, which was produced by; The Green Pine and Super Green Pine radar systems that are used to track and identify ballistic missiles, are developed and manufactured by IAI subsidiary ELTA. According to previous estimates, the cost of each Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptor missile is about $ 3 million.

The Arrow 3, unlike the Arrow 2, is intended only for intercepting long-range missiles outside the atmosphere, and was delivered to the Israeli Air Force in January 2017. The prime contractor for the development of the system is IAI’s Naval Concessions Division, in collaboration with ELTA, which is responsible for the detection system. radar. At the same time, Elisra develops the system responsible for firing control, and the American company Boeing partners with IAI in development and production. The rocket engine that lifts the Arrow rocket into space was developed and manufactured by the state corporation Tomer, and there are also components developed by Rafael and IAI’s MLM.

Due to technological advances by Israel’s enemies, Israel and the United States have been developing Arrow 4 since 2021, which will be more affordable.

Iron Beam will surround Israel with a laser wall

In March 2022, then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz decided to advance the development and production of the iron beam laser system to intercept missiles, the first of its kind in the world, which is designed to respond to missile and drone attacks within a range of up to 10 kilometers. The following month, the Ministry of Defense in cooperation with Rafael conducted a series of tests on the system, which successfully intercepted drones, mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles. Lockheed Martin is investing $1 billion in the Iron Beam system.

According to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Iron Beam was supposed to be operational in 2023 and in the medium to long term, it will be able to “surround Israel with a laser wall that will protect us from rockets, missiles, drones and other threats”, and in fact it will Take away the enemy’s strongest card to play against us.” Operation of the system would be tremendous economic news and save Israel millions of shekels from the frequent use of Iron Dome missiles to neutralize the many missiles fired at Israel.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 11, 2023.

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