The Singapore Airshow is two and a half weeks away, but already it seems that Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. is set to attract much attention there. Company representatives intend to unveil the development of their new high-energy laser based system against rockets and mortar fire. The system is called Iron Beam, and has been under development over recent years by the company’s Land and Naval Division. As development progresses, it is possible that the company’s Air Superiority Sector (the division responsible for Iron Dome development) will be involved as well.
The air defense system under development by Rafael is expected to be ready for use in a few years, and is planned as a component of the aerial defense system that is being built by Israel. The system will give the IDF capabilities it does not have today, and protect communities and military units in areas that are under threat of very-short-range high-trajectory fire. The Iron Dome system currently in use cannot protect settlements adjacent to the Gaza Perimeter Fence against mortar fire.
The high-energy laser beam will use radar to identify mortar shells, calculate their trajectories, and detonate them in the air. Sources close to the development program say that the system will operate using a solid-state laser, which is different from the other missile defense systems that have been offered to Israel in the past, which were based on chemical laser technology. US-based Northrop Grumman’s Nautilus and Skyguard systems are both based on chemical lasers. Lobbyists from the company made strenuous attempts in the past to convince the Ministry of Defense to arm themselves with these systems, but the Ministry of Defense rejected them on the grounds that they do not meet the IDF’s needs. The rejection of these offers paved the way for the continued development of Iron Dome.
Rafael has not volunteered much information about the development of the system that has been going on for a number of years. Already in 2006, the Ministry of Defense alerted the defense industry to the need for development of a system to provide active defense from short-range, high-trajectory fire, and teams were established to research the feasibility of this ambitious initiative.
According to details published on the Rafael website, Iron Beam will operate day and night. When the radar system identifies a rocket or a shell, the weapons system will launch a high-energy laser beam that can be modified for tactical and strategic distances. The laser beam will heat the missile or explosive that was defined as its target until it disintegrates. This is expected to cause the rockets to explode in the air, or to fall to the ground inert. The laser beam itself is invisible and silent, and the cost of each interception is negligible.
Significant advantages
Rafael says that, in comparison to traditional weapons, the new system is expected to provide the forces that use it with significant advantages - minimal collateral damage, lethal precision, and unlimited firepower, thanks to the elimination of the need to fire interceptor missiles at the targets. Rafael adds that the manpower necessary to operate the system is minimal, as will be operable automatically by electronic means.
The development team are testing similar systems developed in the US and Germany; these, however, are long-range laser systems. The Ministry of Defense said recently that it was difficult at this stage to predict when Rafael would have a prototype ready for preliminary demonstrations of the Iron Beam’s technology, but noted that the development was “serious and ongoing.”
In any event, the Iron Beam system (a provisional name) will provide a response to the shortest-range threat to the Israeli home front - high-trajectory fire.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 22, 2014
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