Israel deploys David’s Sling air defense system against Gaza rocket for first time
Mike Brest
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The Israeli military successfully utilized a medium-range air defense system on Wednesday for the first time.
The David’s Sling System, which was declared fully operational in 2017, is one portion of Israel’s multitier layered missile defense system, though it had not been used successfully by Israeli forces until Wednesday when Islamic militants fired rockets at Israel from Gaza.
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Israel Defense Forces have relied on the Iron Dome extensively to intercept short-range rockets, usually ones fired from Palestinian militants in Gaza, for years, while they also have the Arrow system, which is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles.
“We always hear that there’s a layered defense system, but we don’t often see the other layers in action,” Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. “The other layers are David’s Sling, which is the midrange defense system, and then there is the longer range, which is Arrow. We have heard from the IDF that they have conducted tests in which the layers are integrated and operate with one another seamlessly, which is obviously nice to hear, but to see, or rather to get the news that that has now been tested in battle, is another story entirely.”
In 2018, the IDF used the David’s Sling anti-missile system, though the missiles failed to hit their targets, which had been fired from Syria.
David’s Sling is developed and manufactured jointly by Israel’s state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the U.S. Raytheon Company.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that the country is prepared for a multifront conflict with Iran.
“It’s clear that 95% of Israel’s security problems come from Iran,” he said. “We are dealing with an attempt by Iran to start a multifront campaign against us. I instructed the IDF and security forces to be prepared for this fight. … If we need to, we will.”