Israel successfully tests shipborne Iron Dome missile interceptor

[DavidSling]

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel claimed Wednesday that it successfully intercepted a test salvo of shore-launched short-range rockets with a new sea-based version of the Iron Dome.

Col. Ariel Shir, the Israel Navy’s head of combat systems development, said the live fire test was conducted two weeks ago using the Adir radar developed by Israel Aerospace Industries/Elta and the Rafael-developed Iron Dome, both of which were integrated aboard the service’s INS Lahav Sa’ar-5 corvette-class surface vessel.

“I can say all the threats shot toward our assets were targeted by the Adir radar — one of the most advanced naval radars that exists today — and interception was accomplished by Iron Dome,” Shir told reporters Wednesday.

Shir declined to specify how many or what type of threats were intercepted by the new sea-based defensive system, but sources indicated that the test targets were versions of the 122mm Grad.

He insisted, however, that the combination of the ELM-2248 Adir radar and the sea-based Iron Dome was an immediate answer to Israel’s need to defend offshore energy assets in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters.

“It’s important to understand that the operational capability tested improves our ability to protect Israeli strategic assets at sea. … It’s a mission-oriented capability we can use now,” the navy officer said.

He said use of the Adir radar, which is operational aboard the INS Lahav, and maritime versions of Iron Dome will take advantage of technological know-how and operational experience accrued through use of the two pre-existing systems.

“It makes lots of sense,” said Uzi Rubin, a former director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization who is an international consultant on the evolving rocket and missile threat.

“Utilization of existing assets, know-how and operational experience make for a very affordable and immediate answer to the rocket threat,” Rubin told Defense News on Wednesday.

Shir, the naval officer, said the Israel Navy aims to equip new and larger Sa’ar-6 combat ships under contract with Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) with the new sea-based Iron Dome as well as Barak-8 ship defense systems.

Both systems — the Iron Dome against relatively inexpensive shore-launched rockets and Barak-8, a much more sophisticated anti-missile system against sea-skimming and cruise missile threats — are supported by IAI/Elta’s Adir multifunction phased array surveillance, track and guidance radar.

“The plan, for now, is to have both capabilities aboard the Sa’ar-6,” Shir said.

He added that the service, together with MoD’s Mafat research and development directorate and key Israeli industry, was still “in the first stage” of developing a sea-based version of the Iron Dome and its Tamir intercepting rockets.

A former Israeli industry executive lauded the decision to field both the maritime Iron Dome — marketed by Rafael as C-Dome — and the more sophisticated Barak-8 as “very smart.” While the two systems may overlap against certain threats, the former executive said, the maritime Iron Dome would be “in order of magnitude cheaper” than Barak-8 against enemy rockets.

“If you need to intercept a 122mm rocket, why waste a $1 million missile? Iron Dome on shore or at sea is by far the most cost-effective answer to this type of threat,” he said.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/de...tercept-success-sea-based-iron-dome/84540328/

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[DavidSling]

Israel successfully tests shipborne Iron Dome missile interceptor
IDF unveils new weapon that can block short-range ballistic missiles while aboard a moving ship, expected to protect offshore rigs and other assets
BY AFP AND RAOUL WOOTLIFF May 18, 2016, 7:01 pm


The Israeli Navy tests a new sea-based missile defense system, in a video released on May 18, 2016 (screen capture: YouTube)

Israel has successfully tested a maritime missile interception system that can shoot down short-range missiles, dubbing it the “Iron Dome of the Sea,” the navy announced on Wednesday.

The Tamir-Adir system, which the IDF said can shoot down short-range rockets similar to those fired from Gaza, successfully destroyed “several” missiles, Col. Ariel Shir, head of operational systems in the navy, said.

Shir said that during tests carried out two weeks ago, a battery mounted to a ship shot down every one of a salvo of short-range ballistic rockets fired from the shore.

He said the test “proved the Israeli navy’s ability to protect Israel’s strategic assets at sea against short-range strategic rockets.”

A video provided by the army showed a rocket launcher installed on a ship firing at targets in the sky and later intercepting a missile.

During the 2014 Gaza war, Israel deployed its Iron Dome system on land to shoot down rockets fired by Hamas and other terror groups across the border, calling the system a game-changer.

The Tamir Adir system uses technology developed for Iron Dome but adjusted for the operational needs of a moving vessel.

The system was in development for several years, but was only unveiled to the public Wednesday.

The battery is designed to be placed on a moving ship traveling up to cruise speed and will be used to protect strategic assets, such as natural gas rigs, in Israel’s territorial waters.

Included in Israel’s sea assets is a major offshore gas rig around 16 nautical miles from Gaza which the Hamas terror group has previously targeted unsuccessfully.

Any damage to the rig or other rigs under development could be hugely damaging to the Israeli economy, since it provides large amounts of the country’s energy needs and is expected to turn Israel into a gas exporter.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-successfully-tests-shipborne-iron-dome-missile-interceptor/

According to several reports, both C Dome (Naval Iron Dome) and Barak 8 will be installed on current and future navy ships.