Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday visited a laser air defense system the Defense Ministry is developing, hailing it as a “strategic tiebreaker” for Israel ahead of a planned test deployment.
The ministry has been testing laser-based defense systems, shooting down drones, unguided rockets and anti-tank guided missiles for several years. series of tests in March.
“It is a tiebreaker because not only are we defeating the enemy militarily, but we are also weakening it financially. Till today we had to spend a lot of money to intercept each rocket. Today, they can invest tens of thousands of dollars in a rocket and we will invest two dollars of the cost of electricity in intercepting the rocket,” Bennett said.
The ministry’s research and development department had initially planned to deploy the anti-missile system by 2024, but the military insisted on an earlier deployment. Bennett announced in February that Israel would deploy the system within the year.
But in March, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said: “It will take time, it is not a short process, but we will get it done in the shortest possible time.”
This was apparently motivated by concerns that in a future conflict, the military would not have enough interceptor missiles to shoot down incoming rockets, missiles and drones for the Iron Dome and other air defense systems.
The ground-based laser system – dubbed Iron Beam – which is being developed with the Rafale weapons maker, is not meant to replace the Iron Dome or Israel’s other air defense systems, but to complement and complement them, smaller The projectile is to shoot down and leave big. For a more robust missile-based battery.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (right) is shown a mortar intercepted by a new laser-based air-defense system at a Rafale weapons manufacturer complex in Israel on May 31, 2022. (Amos Ben Gershom / GPO)
According to the ministry, Israel is one of the first countries in the world to develop a working air defense system and use powerful laser technology to spot obstructions in operational scenarios.
Millions of shekels have been allocated for the final development phases and the testing phase, in which the system will be placed on the border with the Gaza Strip. It was not immediately clear when the initial deployment would begin.
According to the Ministry of Defense, as long as there is a constant source of energy for the laser, there is no danger of running out of ammunition.
The downside of the laser system is that it does not work well in times of low visibility, including heavy cloud cover or other inclement weather. For this reason, the ministry also intends to mount the system on planes, which will help overcome this limitation by placing the system above clouds, although this is still a few more years away, ministry officials have said.
“We are now in an era of security stability, but we are strategically prepared for every scenario, in all theatres,” Bennett said on Tuesday.
The ‘Iron Beam’ laser-based air defense system is seen intercepting a target over southern Israel in March 2022. (Ministry of Defence)
The Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group is believed to maintain an arsenal of approximately 130,000 rockets, missiles and mortar shells, which the military believes will be used against Israel in future wars.
The two largest terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are also believed to have fired thousands of rockets and mortar shells, even as they fired on Israel during last year’s 11-day war. Even after firing upwards of 4,000 projectiles.
Israeli military officials have also said they have noticed a growing trend of Iran’s drone strikes in recent years, calling it Iran’s “UAV terror”.
Against these and other threats, Israel operates a multi-stage air defense array, made up of the short-range Iron Dome, the medium-range David Sling, and the long-range Arrow and Patriot systems.
