August 10, 2006 :: National Review Online :: Analysis
Angelo M. Codevilla, professor of international relations at Boston University and a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, today discusses the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) and the role it might have played in defending Israel against Hezbollah’s Katyusha rockets, had it not been canceled. Codevilla notes that the technical problem in shooting down Katyushas has always been their short flight time, from their appearance over the horizon to their impact, which precludes the use of any normal Patriot-type surface-to-air interceptor missile. Katyushas are cheap and numerous (they are not ballistic missiles) and could easily overwhelm such defenses. The only way to effectively destroy Katyushas in flight, Codevilla notes, is through rapid fire, multi shot, directed energy weapons. During the 1990s, the U.S. and Israel developed such a system known as THEL, and by 1998 the system had been successfully tested against Katyusha rockets at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Yet THEL was never deployed in Israel. Codevilla draws two conclusions, first that the decision not to deploy a workable defense is a result of “the flawed McNamara logic of almost a half century ago, that defense was not ‘cost effective.’…But consider the cost of not defending against them: the enemy was able to make a big chunk of the country uninhabitable..” Codevilla’s second point is that the ground-based laser technology is similar to the space based laser project which has also since been abandoned.
Codevilla makes good points about the unique capabilities of the THEL program, which is uniquely suited to the short range artillery such as that facing Israel from Hezbollah terrorists. But much has happened with the THEL program since 2000, including successful testing, upgrades, and the transformation of THEL into “MTHEL,” with a mobile capability.
Codevilla’s analysis omits reports that the U.S.-Israel cooperation on THEL was suspended in 2005 after Israel had transferred technologies to China, or of some other details in the THEL story.
As recent events in Lebanon have again shown, the United States and Israel have many and profound common interests—indeed are somewhat natural allies. To benefit from that natural alliance, Israel should perhaps not be transferring systems to China, which of course sells weapons to Israel’s enemies, including Iran and Pakistan. Israel’s lack of THEL system today may be the result of not just bad strategic thinking about assured destruction from the McNamara era (thinking Israel arguably never adopted), but perhaps also from a lack of clarity in the past about allies. (Article)
» July 12, 2006: Northrop Grumman unveils Skyguard program, apparent reincarnation of THEL
» May 18, 2005: Glick: Cooperation on THEL suspended because of Israeli tech transfer to China
» More stories on: Analysis, Israel
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
