| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| David's Sling Missile Shield Unlikely To Be Ready In 2015 | |
| 2014-05-23 | |
[Ynet] Government freezes funding to missile defense system's manufacturer Rafael as part of measures taken to reduce the defense budget.
David's Sling, which is designed to shoot down various aerial threats using interceptor missiles manufactured by US firm Raytheon Co., is billed by Israel as a future bulwark against foes like Leb's Hezbollah and Syria and Iran. But with the Finance Ministry trying to reduce the defense budget, the government said it had frozen funding for David's Sling manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. As a result, a senior defense official told news hounds, "David's Sling, which was supposed to be operational in 2015, will probably not be operational." While US congressional funding for Israeli missile defense was still flowing and allowing work on the system's development, "we don't have the money here to pay for infrastructure", the official added, referring to deployable David's Sling batteries. Israel is building a multi-tier missile shield. The lowest tier, short-range rocket interceptor Iron Dome, and the top tier, ballistic missile interceptor Arrow, are both already in service. David's Sling is envisaged as bridging between the two. Major-General Amir Eshel, chief of Israel's air force, sought to play down the hold-ups in David's Sling deployment. "It is an excellent system which will be operational," he told Rooters on the sidelines of a security conference. Asked when that might be, Eshel said: "I don't remember." Though both Israeli and US officers have praised David's Sling's performance in field tests, the system lost out on a Polish missile-defence tender. Washington, backing two competing US systems, exercised an effective veto on its ally's bid due the involvement of US technologies in David's Sling. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 Looking forward to David's KneeCaper soonest. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-05-23 18:49 |
| #2 Yea, well, maybe we just depopulate South Lebanon instead? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-05-23 02:02 |
| #1 The war in Syria has another year to burn. That should keep the Usual Suspects busy for a while. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-05-23 00:34 |