Lasers: Israel’s Breakthrough in Air Defense

Stand for Israel | January 15, 2020

TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-GAZA — TOPSHOT - Israeli missile launched from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, is seen above Gaza city on November 12, 2019. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP) (Photo by BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier today, terrorists in Gaza began their latest round of rocket launches, targeting the communities of southern Israel with mortar fire.

But not all projectiles launched by Israel’s terrorist enemies are such short-range devices. No — Hamas, Hezbollah, and the bevy of other Iran-backed terror groups bent on Israel’s destruction all have access to long-range missiles that could reach Tel Aviv and beyond.

So this news from the Algemeiner’s Benjamin Kerstein is heartening. Kerstein reports that the IDF and Israeli technology firms have worked together to devise a laser system that will complement the Iron Dome in knocking down longer-range projectiles meant to kill Israelis:

Dudi Auster of the Optitronics Department at the Defense Ministry said, “We can finally arrive at an effective laser weapons system that can cut through the iron of rockets and missiles from kilometers away.”
The system will be tested as early as the second half of 2020 and will then be deployed near the southern border with the Gaza Strip to complement the Iron Dome…
The laser system will cost a great deal less per interception than Iron Dome and is capable of intercepting targets as small as drones and as large as precision missiles.
Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem, head of research and development at the Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure, said, “We are entering a new era of energy warfare in the air, land and sea.”
“R and D investments made in recent years place Israel among the leading countries in the field of powerful lasers,” he added. “It will be a force multiplier for the IDF’s defense capabilities, whether it is air defense, border protection or the IDF’s maneuvering capabilities…”