Israel develops comprehensive defences against varied missil
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In the next three years, Israel's missile defence alignment will be enhanced and realigned with three new layers of protection filling in gaps in the existing two.
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/idr/idr071213_1_n.shtml
Current defences comprise the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system as the upper tier and the MIM-104 Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) theatre defence system as a lower tier. The new five-tier missile shield will evolve to encompass the Arrow 3 as the upper, anti-ballistic missile layer, while David's Sling and Iron Cap will enter service to offer two new anti-rocket layers lower down.
While the threat, ranging from improvised Palestinian Qassam rockets to the Iranian Shahab 3 medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM), is not new, it was only after the 2006 war in Lebanon that Israel began considering missile defence as a key element in its defence doctrine.
More than 4,200 rockets rained on the Israeli rear in the 33 days of the country's war with the Lebanese Shi'ite militia, Hizbullah, graphically demonstrating Israel's vulnerability to attacks on its population centres and the Israel Defence Force's (IDF's) limited capability to defend against rocket fire.
"There is no other country in the world threatened with such a vast variety of rockets and missiles," Uzi Rubin, former director of Israel's Missile Defence Organisation (IMDO), tells Jane's. "There isn't a single spot in the country free of rocket or missile threat."
So dire is the perceived need to develop protection against rockets and missiles that Defence Minister Ehud Barak has tied it to his political platform as a precondition of future progress in the peace process with the Palestinians.
He believes that without a convincing missile shield, any withdrawal from Palestinian territory in the West Bank will expose central Israel - where most of the country's population and strategic sites are located - to increased rocket attacks. To underline the argument, he points to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which has brought daily rocket attacks on surrounding Israeli towns ever since.
As such, Barak claims that until the appropriate technology is fielded, occupation is the only means to prevent launches. "In several years, Israel will have a 90 per cent protection against any attempt to launch rockets or missiles at it," he recently declared. "With time, this percentage will become even higher."
Although missiles were introduced into the Middle East some 40 years ago, it is only in the last 20 years that they have become the main threat to Israel.
Image: A battery of Qassam missile launchers uncovered by the IDF. Planners assert that occupation is currently the only way to stop the launches. (Israel Defence Force)
A case study from our 'Mexican' friends...can help with our BMD plans...
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Subject title sucks....
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Subject title comprehensive and true. What's your problem.
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Yes, whats your problem?Originally posted by Gooseliver:Subject title sucks.... -
JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli security cabinet on Sunday gave the green light for the manufacture of a defence system capable of intercepting short-range rockets such as those fired by Gaza militants, army radio said.
The cabinet allocated 811 million shekels (207 million dollars, 144 million euros) towards the development and manufacture of the missile defence system, it said.
The system -- dubbed "The Iron Dome" -- will be developed by the Israeli arms firm Rafael and is expected to be operational within two years. The defence ministry first ordered its development in February.
In addition to being able to intercept the home-made rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militant groups, it will also be able to shoot down Katyusha-type short-range rockets of the kind fired by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia during last year's 34-day war with Israel.
During that brief but bloody conflict, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel, killing more than 40 civilians.
In Israeli territory around Gaza, 12 people have been killed as a result of some 4,000 rockets militants have fired into Israel since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
Short-range rockets have been the bane of Israel's military, widely considered to be the Middle East's most powerful army.
Although they have a relatively low accuracy rate, the rockets create a state of permanent anxiety among Israelis within range, and increase public pressure on the military to deal with the menace.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGOVYEmYQ6M92DfxnWC6Wo-6xU0Q -
I have doubts on the effectiveness of these weapons given that a) the targets are really small and b) the firing rate, location and timing are sporatic.
For it to be truly effective, perhaps sensors would have to be extended throughout the entire border with the Gaza Strip with full 24 hours scanning/operational active time. Imagine the cost in maintaining such a system. -
Israel has to be prepared for the president of Iran who has threatened to wipe or erase from map and doubt the existence of holocaust of decimation of Jews...In fact the Bible hint that the end of the world is linked to Middle East..expect >probems if Iran really go nuclear..Bush's picture of 3rd world war may be a possibility
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Israel has the first operational laser based air defence weapons too.