PARIKRAMA
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New system made by Rafael uses lasers to intercept rockets fired from short range
Israel plans to unveil a new missile defense system known as "Iron Beam" which can intercept very short-range rockets and mortars using a high-powered laser, a defense industry official said on Sunday.
The system, which borrows part of its name from the highly successful "Iron Dome" anti-rocket system, will engage projectiles whose trajectory is too small to be efficiently engaged by the Iron Dome missiles. Both systems are produced by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
The Iron Dome has shown remarkable success intercepting rockets fired by militants, displaying an 80% success rate, using radar-guided interceptor rockets.
Instead of using expensive interceptor missiles, which can cost as much as $50,000 a piece, the Iron Beam will use a laser to heat warheads, detonating them before they reach their target. Because there is no launch of an interceptor missile, the system will be able to engage shorter range rockets and mortars, eliminating them within a range of up to seven kilometers.
Rafael announced that the Iron Beam would make its official debut at next month's Singapore Air show. The Israel Defense Forces have declined to comment on any plans for the systems deployment.
The Iron Beam would join Israel's cutting-edge integrated missile defense system, which currently includes the Iron Dome and the Arrow II, a long-range interceptor designed to take out ballistic missiles in the earth's atmosphere.
The Iron Beam would form a "fifth layer" to the integrated defense system, an anonymous industry official told Reuters. The system will soon welcome it's third and fourth layers: the advanced Arrow III and the David's Sling, designed for mid-range missiles. Both systems are still being tested.
Israel previously developed another laser-based interception system with the US called the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) also known as the Nautilus laser system. The system experienced setbacks in development after being adapted as a mobile system. Despite calls by several defense experts for the implementation of the system, it was abandoned in 2005 as a result of high costs and poor battlefield results.
The US has extensively funded and participated the development of these systems, seeing them as a way of assuring Israel's security in the tumultuous region.
Israel has recently experienced a resurgence in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, with 17 rockets being launched from Gaza towards Israeli cities in the last three weeks. Citizens of the Israeli south lived under the constant threat of rocket attacks until the IDF conducted Operation Pillar of Defense against the Gaza strip, which resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number rockets being launched at Israel.
In response to the renewed rocket attacks, Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said he wouldn't recommend that anybody test Israel's patience.
"We cannot consent to shooting on our territory and will target all those who threaten our citizens," he said.
After Iron Dome, Israel to unveil Iron Beam | i24news - See beyond
Excepts from Times of Israel (Israeli company to unveil laser-based rocket interceptor | The Times of Israel
Iron Beam is designed to complement the Iron Dome missile defense system by focusing on smaller projectiles and “pinpoint defense,” the report noted.
The system would be most relevant to the Negev town of Sderot, which is situated less than four kilometers from Gaza and, therefore, largely unprotected by Iron Dome.
Excerpts from Defense Update (Defense Update:RAFAEL Develops a New High Energy Laser Weapon - Defense Update:
Israel plans to implement a fifth ‘active defense’ layer in its national multi-layered air and missile defense system, aimed to provide an affordable countermeasure against threats at ‘very short range. The new capability will be able to protect border communities and military installations, offering point defense against various aerial threats.
These elements could consist of the new ‘Iron Beam’ system, a mobile High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) developed by RAFAEL. ‘Iron Beam’ is designed to destroy targets by irradiation with a directed High Energy (HE) laser beam. The system will have a wide range of applications – from engagement of airborne targets, acting as a Counter Rocket, Artillery, Mortars (C-RAM) to Counter-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (C-UAV)s or surface-based targets. It is designed for operation as part of air-defense system or as a stand-alone system, at day or night-time.” RAFAELs communiqué said.
Elements of the High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) will be unveiled in February at the Singapore Airshow, with more details and system-representative elements to be displayed at the Eurosatory exhibition in June this year.
“At the Singapore Airshow we will introduce an integrated system we call the ‘Iron Shield’, comprising an integrated air and C-RAM defense capability comprising the Iron Dome, Iron Beam and MIC4AD air-defense integration system.” Joseph Horowitz, Director of Marketing and Business Development at RAFAEL’s Air Superiority Systems Division told Defense-Update. “The directed energy component known as ‘Iron Beam’ employs a solid–state laser interceptor designed to engage targets at very short range, below the levels where we currently employ the Iron Dome.” Horowitz explained, adding “As a weapon system, Iron Beam is designed to have minimal collateral damage, minimal environmental impact and no risk to friendly air traffic around the attacked target.”
The Israeli project is not the first to enter testing. Development of similar programs was accelerated in recent years in the USA and in Europe, addressing urgent needs for better protection of NATO forward bases in Afghanistan (ISAF).
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A question to all readers:
1. Should India be interested for such a system especially as some media reports in the past indicated we wanted to check out Iron Dome
2. Also laser based projects, i remember a project named Kali 5000 detailed below.. Is it almost having same application or much different.. Can somebody give a more detailed analysis of the new iron beam vs Kali 5000 or similar weapon systems of other nations
Know more about India's top secret weapon Kali 5000 | Missile ThreatMissile Threat
New Delhi: Kali-5000 is India’s answer to any uninvited incoming missiles and planes. Moreover, the beam can also be used to cripple the enemy satellite and UAVs in no time.KALI stands for Kilo Ampere Linear Injector. It is a linear electron accelerator being developed by the Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
Earlier the Kali system was developed for industrial applications and that the defence use was a recent spinoff.
The machine essentially generated pulses of highly energetic electrons. Other components in the machine down the line converted the electrons into flash x-rays (for ultra high-speed photography) or microwaves. The electron beam itself can be used for welding.The KALI project was first mooted in 1985 by the then Director of the BARC, Dr. R. Chidambaram. Work on the Project began in 1989, being developed by the Accelerators & Pulse Power Division of the BARC.
The project was designed to produce electron pulses of about 100 ns with an energy of about 1 MeV, current 40 kA and a power of 40 GW. This Relativistic Electron Beams (REB) thus generated will be used for the generation of High Power Microwaves (HPM) & Flash X Rays (FXR).This has fueled hopes that the KALI could, one day be used in a High-Power Microwave gun, which could destroy incoming missiles and aircraft through soft-kill (destroying the electronic circuitry on the missile).
The KALI’s potential for a military role as a beam weapon has made it, in the eyes of China a threat. The KALI-5000 was commissioned for use in late 2004.However, weaponisation of the KALI will take some time. The system is still under development, and efforts are being made to make it more compact, as well as improve its recharge time, which, at the present, makes it only a single use system.
