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=?utf-8?Q?US=2C_Israel_Start_Delivering_Davi?=
US, Israel Start Delivering David’s Sling System to Israel Air Force
By Barbara Opall-Rome 8:59 a.m. EST March 2, 2016
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/03/01/us-israel-start-delivering-davids-sling-system-israel-air-force/81145694/
TEL AVIV — Israel’s Missile Defense Organization and state-owned Rafael have
started delivering major components of the new US-Israel David’s Sling
Weapon System (DSWS) to its intended user, the Israel Air Force.
In a statement Tuesday, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that the
delivery process is taking place gradually, according to the DSWS
development plan.
The first phase includes delivery of the multimission radar by Elta Systems;
Stunner interceptors by Rafael and its US partner, Raytheon Missile Systems;
and the Golden Almond Battle Management Center by Elbit Systems Elisra.
That phase will be followed “in the near future” by integration testing of
all system components prior to a declaration of initial operational
capability by the Israel Air Force, according to the ministry.
In the past month, the DSWS was put through multiple operational simulations
as part of the US-Israel Juniper Cobra exercise, a biennial air defense
drill aimed at honing interoperability between the two nations.
The system completed a series of live-fire development tests last December
against heavy rocket and short-range ballistic missile targets at Rafael’s
Negev desert test range. At the conclusion of those tests, Shlomo Hess,
Rafael’s DSWS program manager, announced that “all the unique technologies
that comprise the David’s Sling Weapon System” had been validated and that
the system would soon be transferred to Israel Air Force users.
“It’s very rare to achieve all the goals in such a complex test series …
against long-range targets with heavy warheads capable of sustaining very
big collateral damage,” Hess said at the time.
The jointly funded DSWS is designed to bridge the lower and upper tiers of
Israel’s four-layer active defense defense network. It will be deployed
above Israel’s Iron Dome and below the upper-atmospheric Arrow-2 and
exo-atmospheric Arrow-3.
Israel expects DSWS to be particularly useful in defending against the vast
and increasingly precise arsenal of Syrian 302mm rockets and Iranian
half-ton warhead-equipped Fatah 110 rockets in the hands of Lebanon-based
Hezbollah. It also is designed to defend against Scud B-class ballistic
missiles, which can deliver one-ton warheads at ranges of some 300
kilometers.
In its March 1 statement, Israel’s MoD said the hit-to-kill system “is
considered the world’s most revolutionary innovation” of missile
interceptors.
“David’s Sling will allow Israel to more effectively defend against the wide
range of current and future threats to its civilians. It will provide an
additional layer of protection against short- and medium-range missiles and
rockets, particularly against precision strikes,” according to MoD.
Future planned block developments aim to render the system capable of
defending against cruise missiles and other air breathing targets.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @opallrome
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=70109
