January 7, 2010 :: AFP :: News
Over the past two days, the Israeli military has conducted the final tests of its Iron Dome missile defense system. Iron Dome is a component part of Israel's growing multi-layered missile defense architecture, and is tasked with stopping the short-range rockets (among others, Grads, Katyushas, and Qassams) fired by Hamas from the Gaza strip and by Hezbollah into northern Israel.
This testing comes on the heels of the massive Juniper Cobra joint war games exercise conducted by the U.S. and Israel in late October and November of 2009. That exercise was meant to test and improve the connectivity and interoperability of U.S. and Israeli armed forces in the event of a missile attack. Although it was said to have been in the works for some time, the political and strategic timing of the exercise considering Iran's recent saber-rattling couldn't have been better. The sea-based U.S. Aegis system that is now tasked with protecting Eastern Europe was used in that exercise, along with the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and the forward-based X-band radar that was deployed in Israel in 2008.
Between Iron Dome, David's Sling (another joint project of the U.S. and Israel tasked with the interception of cruise missiles), the Arrow-2 system that has been deployed for some time, and a longer-range Arrow-3 system, Israel is quickly becoming one of a few world-leaders in missile defense technology and deployment.
In related news, on December 21, 2009 the White House announced the signing of the latest defense appropriation bill in which $202 million is provided to help fund Israeli missile defenses.
(Article)
» President Obama and Congress fund Israeli missile defense
» Longer Range Rockets Threaten Israel from Gaza
» Israel Conducts Successful Short Range Missile Intercept
» Israeli Missile Defense Test Success
» Missile system details for: Arrow, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable, Aegis Ship-Based BMD
