DavidSling
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The "David's Sling" Interception System's battalion has celebrated a year since its establishment and is expected to be declared operational in late 2016. Meet the system that will add unprecedented abilities to the Aerial Defense Division
Tal Giladi | Translation: Ohad Zeltzer Zubida
The first year of plowing the field has come to an end and the "David's Sling" battalion personnel can see the crops. In the passing year, the first battalion of the "David's Sling" System was established and is expected to advance the Israeli Aerial Defense Division and strengthen its defensive abilities.
"The ‘David's Sling' System holds a great added value for the Aerial Defense world. The process of making it operational is complex and is not concluded by only integrating the system but also has to do with accumulating operational and professional knowledge, with infrastructure and most of all - with people", clarified Brig. Gen. Zwika Haimovich, Commander of the Aerial Defense Division. "In the future, the system will provide a response to threats in the sky defense field in addition to its active defense abilities. It is a multifunctional system which provides a significant step forward in efficiency for the IDF which doesn't exist in any other military force".
This is the "David's Sling" System and the story of establishing a new battalion in the IAF, from designing the new combat doctrine to shaping the combatants of the future.
The system that does it all
In 2007, then Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, authorized the development of the "David's Sling" System. Three Israeli companies won the tender to take part in the project, "Refael", "Elbit" and "Elta" alongside the American "Raytheon" which manufactures the launchers. The guiding idea being a dual system which could intercept ballistic targets such as rockets and missiles and cruise missiles.
"An interceptor with remarkable abilities, which suits a variety of threats, has been developed. It can deal with a large number of targets simultaneously and is very energetic in nature", shares Maj. Tomer Sarlovich, head of the "David's Sling" Department in IAF HQ. In 2012, a series of experiments began and ended in late 2015, in a concluding series of experiments with the ministry of defense, as a part of which the system succeeded in intercepting all of the threats launches at it.
A radar, a launcher and a few computers would have become nothing but a dusty vision, without the people to operate them. The establishment core of the operational battalion was opened in May 2015 and was composed of dozens of officers, combatants and technicians who began by studying the system meticulously and who ranged from all of the battalions in the Aerial Defense Division: "Iron Dome", "Arrow" and "Patriot".
"We insisted on a heterogeneous mix so everyone could bring their insights and experience, create mutual fertilization and learn from past lessons accumulated in the division", describes Lt. Col. Koby Regev, the "David's Sling" Battalion Commander. "Nonetheless, we have taken part in many firsts here, like a unique course for the system's combatants or thinking about positions inside the Interception Management Center. Everything in order to build the "David's Sling" battalion in accordance with the complexity of the system it will operate and it definitely requires us to be open minded".
Brig. Gen. Zwika Haimovich, Commander of the Aerial Defense Division | Photography: Mor Tzidon
Integrating a new system
As expected, the "David's Sling" operational concept is completely new to the Aerial Defense Division. "Generally, the system is characteristically stationary, unlike ‘Iron Dome'. ‘David's Sling' operates in a state-wide defense concept and can protect the whole country from its permanent location", explains Lt. Col. Regev. "Despite this, we have tactical skipping abilities. In our ‘neighborhood', if you don't know how to adapt yourself quickly to the changing picture, you become vulnerable".
In late 2016 the battalion and system's initial operational ability will be announced. "When building something from nothing, we know that whatever we don't do ourselves, will not be done. We compare it to a non-processed field and our wish is that it will bear fruit", said Lt. Col. Regev. "There are combined missions here with a lot of responsibility, to integrate a weapon system and simultaneously create spirit and an organizational culture. Most of the decisions we make today will accompany the system years from now and it is difficult to fix a building with unstable foundations".
One of the decisions made as a part of studying the system and testing its abilities, was its integration in the Israeli Aerial Defense and U.S Army "Juniper Cobra" training exercise, which was held during February. "We put the system in complex situations on purpose, so it would prove itself. Even though it is still in its initial stages and has yet to be announced as operational, we integrated ‘David's Sling' in the important exercise in order to calibrate it and experience operating it", said the Commander of the Aerial Defense Division.
The jump into the deep end came to be useful and educational. "No simulation in a lab can create something like this. There is a large difference between a thought under florescent lights and what really happens in real scenarios that were simulated in the exercise, where we received real feedback", shares the Battalion Commander.
Illustration Photo | Mor Tzidon
"Ask the hard questions"
While studying the "David's Sling" system's advanced technology, studying the battalion personnel training and development is required. The first cycle of recruits have already been enlisted and the officer's course that will be integrated in the battalion is also on the way. Senior officers in the division are undergoing conversion courses in the past months for operating the "David's Sling" system and learning how to deploy the launcher, what the Interception Management Center looks like and what the interception process looks like. Unlike conversion courses for other systems which were held in the industries, this course was held in the Aerial Defense Academy and is clearly professional oriented. In the next few months, a simulator of the system is expected to arrive at the academy.
While working and remembering that they have the right of the first, the battalion personnel march into the next year of growth. "When you look back, you will understand that no one did this before you" said Brig. Gen. Haimovich in his visit of the northern battery. "The responsibility to begin and leave something special behind you is on you, don't take anything for granted and ask the hard questions".
Brig. Gen. Zwika Haimovich, Commander of the Aerial Defense Division | Photography: Mor Tzidon
http://www.iaf.org.il/4447-46528-en/IAF.aspx
Tal Giladi | Translation: Ohad Zeltzer Zubida
The first year of plowing the field has come to an end and the "David's Sling" battalion personnel can see the crops. In the passing year, the first battalion of the "David's Sling" System was established and is expected to advance the Israeli Aerial Defense Division and strengthen its defensive abilities.
"The ‘David's Sling' System holds a great added value for the Aerial Defense world. The process of making it operational is complex and is not concluded by only integrating the system but also has to do with accumulating operational and professional knowledge, with infrastructure and most of all - with people", clarified Brig. Gen. Zwika Haimovich, Commander of the Aerial Defense Division. "In the future, the system will provide a response to threats in the sky defense field in addition to its active defense abilities. It is a multifunctional system which provides a significant step forward in efficiency for the IDF which doesn't exist in any other military force".
This is the "David's Sling" System and the story of establishing a new battalion in the IAF, from designing the new combat doctrine to shaping the combatants of the future.
The system that does it all
In 2007, then Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, authorized the development of the "David's Sling" System. Three Israeli companies won the tender to take part in the project, "Refael", "Elbit" and "Elta" alongside the American "Raytheon" which manufactures the launchers. The guiding idea being a dual system which could intercept ballistic targets such as rockets and missiles and cruise missiles.
"An interceptor with remarkable abilities, which suits a variety of threats, has been developed. It can deal with a large number of targets simultaneously and is very energetic in nature", shares Maj. Tomer Sarlovich, head of the "David's Sling" Department in IAF HQ. In 2012, a series of experiments began and ended in late 2015, in a concluding series of experiments with the ministry of defense, as a part of which the system succeeded in intercepting all of the threats launches at it.
A radar, a launcher and a few computers would have become nothing but a dusty vision, without the people to operate them. The establishment core of the operational battalion was opened in May 2015 and was composed of dozens of officers, combatants and technicians who began by studying the system meticulously and who ranged from all of the battalions in the Aerial Defense Division: "Iron Dome", "Arrow" and "Patriot".
"We insisted on a heterogeneous mix so everyone could bring their insights and experience, create mutual fertilization and learn from past lessons accumulated in the division", describes Lt. Col. Koby Regev, the "David's Sling" Battalion Commander. "Nonetheless, we have taken part in many firsts here, like a unique course for the system's combatants or thinking about positions inside the Interception Management Center. Everything in order to build the "David's Sling" battalion in accordance with the complexity of the system it will operate and it definitely requires us to be open minded".
Brig. Gen. Zwika Haimovich, Commander of the Aerial Defense Division | Photography: Mor Tzidon
Integrating a new system
As expected, the "David's Sling" operational concept is completely new to the Aerial Defense Division. "Generally, the system is characteristically stationary, unlike ‘Iron Dome'. ‘David's Sling' operates in a state-wide defense concept and can protect the whole country from its permanent location", explains Lt. Col. Regev. "Despite this, we have tactical skipping abilities. In our ‘neighborhood', if you don't know how to adapt yourself quickly to the changing picture, you become vulnerable".
In late 2016 the battalion and system's initial operational ability will be announced. "When building something from nothing, we know that whatever we don't do ourselves, will not be done. We compare it to a non-processed field and our wish is that it will bear fruit", said Lt. Col. Regev. "There are combined missions here with a lot of responsibility, to integrate a weapon system and simultaneously create spirit and an organizational culture. Most of the decisions we make today will accompany the system years from now and it is difficult to fix a building with unstable foundations".
One of the decisions made as a part of studying the system and testing its abilities, was its integration in the Israeli Aerial Defense and U.S Army "Juniper Cobra" training exercise, which was held during February. "We put the system in complex situations on purpose, so it would prove itself. Even though it is still in its initial stages and has yet to be announced as operational, we integrated ‘David's Sling' in the important exercise in order to calibrate it and experience operating it", said the Commander of the Aerial Defense Division.
The jump into the deep end came to be useful and educational. "No simulation in a lab can create something like this. There is a large difference between a thought under florescent lights and what really happens in real scenarios that were simulated in the exercise, where we received real feedback", shares the Battalion Commander.
Illustration Photo | Mor Tzidon
"Ask the hard questions"
While studying the "David's Sling" system's advanced technology, studying the battalion personnel training and development is required. The first cycle of recruits have already been enlisted and the officer's course that will be integrated in the battalion is also on the way. Senior officers in the division are undergoing conversion courses in the past months for operating the "David's Sling" system and learning how to deploy the launcher, what the Interception Management Center looks like and what the interception process looks like. Unlike conversion courses for other systems which were held in the industries, this course was held in the Aerial Defense Academy and is clearly professional oriented. In the next few months, a simulator of the system is expected to arrive at the academy.
While working and remembering that they have the right of the first, the battalion personnel march into the next year of growth. "When you look back, you will understand that no one did this before you" said Brig. Gen. Haimovich in his visit of the northern battery. "The responsibility to begin and leave something special behind you is on you, don't take anything for granted and ask the hard questions".
Brig. Gen. Zwika Haimovich, Commander of the Aerial Defense Division | Photography: Mor Tzidon
http://www.iaf.org.il/4447-46528-en/IAF.aspx
