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The new hypersonic missile interceptor system, developed by Israeli state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has already been shown to the US military, who are considering buying it.

Both Russia and Iran have stepped up production of hypersonic missiles in recent months amid claims that they cannot be intercepted, in what could prove to be a major defence problem for Israel, Ukraine and their allies.

Russia’s hypersonic cruise missiles fly in the upper atmosphere and travel at five times the speed of sound and have already been used in Ukraine.

Iran’s new “Fattah” missile is even before advanced and has been pointed at Tel Aviv, possibly to deter a potential Israeli strike on the regime’s nuclear program. Iran says the Fattah can fly at 15 times the speed of sound and strike Tel Aviv within 400 seconds.

Tehran is also sending thousands of shorter-range missiles and drones to Russia for use against Ukraine, in return for Russia sending its advanced fighter jets to Iran that could be used by the regime to attack Israel.

RAFAEL, KEEPING CIVILIANS SAFE

Rafael is the Israeli state-owned contractor behind the Iron Dome missile defense system capable of intercepting around 90 per cent of short-range rockets launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip. It has been used by Israel over the last 13 years.

Rafael also developed David’s Sling, a similar system that was used successfully for the first time last month to defend Israel against the May 9-13 round of rocket fire at Israel by Iranian-funded Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Rafael’s Iron Beam system, which uses lasers to intercept incoming rockets, is due to become operational soon and should prove more economical than the very expensive Iron Dome rocket interceptors.

THREE GENERATIONS AFTER THE HOLOCAUST

On Thursday, the head of Germany’s defense committee approved a €4 billion payment for Israel’s Arrow 3 air defense system, which will be able to shoot down missiles above the atmosphere and grant air cover to neighboring EU member states.

Germany, a nation that only three generations ago was responsible for the murder of most of Europe’s Jews.

As the Jerusalem Post notes (in the article below):

“Yes, Israel has long been at peace with the idea of buying weapons from Germany, including nuclear-capable submarines, considered a key component to ensuring the country’s physical survival.

“But it is one thing to buy arms from Berlin for self-defense; it is another thing to sell it weapons.”

— Tom Gross

ARTICLES

RAFAEL UNVEILS HYPERSONIC MISSILE INTERCEPTOR

Rafael unveils hypersonic missile interceptor
By Dean Shmuel Elmas
Globes, Israel business newspaper
June 15, 2023

In advance of this year’s Paris Air Show, which opens next Monday, Israeli state-owned company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled a new development in air defense: the SkySonic (Kela Had) system, designed to shoot down hypersonic missiles.

The threat from hypersonic missiles has become more evident than ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s use of what it claims are hypersonic missiles, that is, missiles that fly at several times the speed of sound.

In 2018, Russia revealed a hypersonic glider, a weapon that is carried into space on top of an intercontinental ballistic missile and then returns at very high speed to earth, surfing on the shock wave generated as its punches through the air.

In fact, the Russians have been using the airplane-launched Kinzhal (Dagger) missile, a high-speed weapon but not one that embodies any breakthrough technology. Iran also claims that is has developed a hypersonic weapon, the Fattah, but in fact this is believed to be more of a ballistic missile with improved maneuverability than a hypersonic missile.

SkySonic has been under development for three years, since before Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. The system is therefore at a fairly advanced stage, and is expected to undergo flight tests shortly. It has already been shown to the US military, with the approval of the Ministry of Defense, to great enthusiasm.

Rafael is also responsible for the development of the Iron Dome system for defense against short-range rockets, which has been operational for thirteen years. Its Iron Beam system, which uses lasers to intercept incoming rockets, is due to become operational soon. This system is more economical than Iron Dome, in that it saves the need for using expensive interceptor rockets.

Hypersonic missiles or gliders combine the speed of ballistic missiles (or greater) with the maneuverability of slower cruise missiles, making them very difficult to shoot down. Russia claims that there is no existing or potential defense against its hypersonic weapon, and indeed no proven, designated system for intercepting such weapons has yet been demonstrated. With SkySonic, Rafael thus positions itself once again at the forefront of air defense in the world.

The interceptor is a two-stage missile. The warhead has its own booster, and is capable of maneuvering to counter maneuvers by the target missile.

“SkySonic is versatile, and can intercept all varieties of hypersonic missile,” Rafael chairperson Dr. Yuval Steinitz said. “In the light of our successes in this field, in which we are pioneers, there is room to believe that we will be among the first and among the best, if not the best in the world, in dealing with hypersonic missiles.”

Steinitz added that Rafael’s orders backlog had surpassed NIS 40 billion for the first time. He said that sales were rising rapidly, partly because of opportunities opened up by the war in Ukraine.

ISRAEL’S NEW HYPERSONIC DEFENCE SYSTEM DEFIES RUSSIA AND IRAN’S ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ BOAST

Israel’s new hypersonic defence system defies Russia and Iran’s ‘impossible’ boast

Announcement hints at potential new technological era, with ‘deepening engagement’ between Europe and Israeli firms

The Daily Telegraph (London)
June 16, 2023

Israel is building the world’s first air defence system dedicated to shooting down hypersonic missiles in a major challenge to Russia and Iran, who have claimed that they are impossible to shoot down.

The Israeli defence firm Rafael is working on a new “Sky Sonic” system that is specifically designed for intercepting hypersonic missiles, which can fly in the upper atmosphere and travel at five times the speed of sound.

The Sky Sonic system will “enable us to intercept all kinds of hypersonic threats – hypersonic ballistic missiles, hypersonic cruise missiles,” Yuval Steinitz, the chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, told Reuters news agency.

A CGI video demonstration provided by Rafael showed an interceptor missile being fired from a ground battery. The interceptor’s warhead detaches itself and flew towards an incoming missile.

A Rafael spokesman said Sky Sonic would soon undergo flight tests but did not provide a schedule for when it might be ready. The Israeli military has not commented on the announcement, while the Pentagon has been briefed on the project according to Reuters.

The announcement hints at a potential new era of European air defence in which Israel – which is also selling Germany a £3 billion Arrow 3 interception tool – plays a major role.

However, as Sky Sonic is still being developed, and Israel remains reluctant to provide Kyiv with military support, it is unlikely that it will be deployed in Ukraine in the near future.

Both Russia and Iran have stepped up production of hypersonic missiles in recent months amid claims that they cannot be intercepted, in what could prove to be a major defence headache for Israel, Ukraine and their allies.

Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missiles are already being fired at Ukrainian cities, while Iran’s new “Fattah” missile has been pointed at Tel Aviv, possibly to deter a potential Israeli strike on the regime’s nuclear programme.

Tehran is also sending hundreds if not thousands of missiles and drones to Moscow for use against Ukraine, and in return is set to receive powerful Russian fighter jets which could be used by the regime to attack Israel.

“The war in Ukraine, and Russia’s use of Iranian drones there, has reshuffled European priorities and created new openings for deepening engagement with Israel,” said Hugh Lovatt, a senior Middle East analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“Faced with a new array of security challenges emanating from Russia, the EU and its member states now increasingly view Israel as an important security partner that can provide access to valuable military weaponry and cyber technology,” he added.

“For many European capitals, including strong supporters of Palestinian rights, national security interests are overriding concerns over Israel’s actions against Palestinians.”

Yehoshua Kalisky, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said: “Regarding the Russian hypersonic missiles, they operate effectively, but they are not ‘game changers’ as we can see from the results of the war during the last week. Their use looks to me like another vehicle used to destroy infrastructure or to hurt civilians.”

“About the Iranians, it looks that they carried out only ground tests – probably it is not operational yet,” he added.

Israel is increasingly concerned about Russia’s military support for Iran, but at the same time is resisting pressure from the United States to arm Kyiv, or at least grant the use of its powerful Iron Dome air defence system.

This is partly because Russia has a large Jewish population which Israel fears could be persecuted in the event that relations significantly deteriorate. Russia also controls much of the airspace over neighbouring Syria, where Israel frequently launches air strikes on Iranian-backed militia groups.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has privately complained to Vladimir Putin about his military support for Iran, the US news website Axios reported on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the head of Germany’s defence committee approved a €3.99 billion (£3.34 billion) payment for Israel’s Arrow 3 air defence system, which will be able to shoot down missiles above the atmosphere and grant air cover to neighbouring EU member states.

The funds were drawn from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s €100 billion defence package, which is aimed at bolstering German security in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Last week Iran, Israel’s arch-nemesis in the region, unveiled what it claimed was the regime’s first domestically produced hypersonic missile, dubbed the Fattah, which can supposedly fly at 15 times the speed of sound and strike Tel Aviv within 400 seconds.

Rafael is already well-known as the Israeli state-owned contractor behind the Iron Dome missile defence system capable of intercepting around 90 per cent of rockets launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

It also developed David’s Sling, a similar system that was used successfully for the first time during the May 9-13 round of fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

According to Israeli media reports, the country already has defence systems that should be capable of taking down hypersonic missiles, but none have been tailored to that threat specifically.

In response to the Iranian hypersonic missile being revealed last week, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister said “to any such development, we have an even better response,” without elaborating.

While Iran’s Fattah has not yet been used in battle, Russia reportedly fired six of its Kinzhal hypersonic missiles at Ukraine in May and all of them were intercepted, Ukrainian officials said, suggesting the weapon’s capabilities may have been exaggerated.

WHAT THE ARROW-3 SALE TO GERMANY SAYS ABOUT ISRAEL

What the Arrow-3 sale to Germany says about Israel
The connection created by this sale is something that Israel wants to promote around the world, not only in Europe.

By Herb Keinon
Jerusalem Post
June 16, 2023

Few headlines succinctly capture the remarkable journey of Israel and the Jewish people over the past 75 years better than this one from Reuters last week: “Germany moves ahead with plans to buy Israel’s Arrow-3 missile defense for €4 billion.”

When viewed within the context of recent history, this headline is astounding on many different levels.

First, the Jewish people survived the Holocaust. Second, it established a state after the Holocaust. And third, this state – once so desperate for arms that it agreed to take them from West Germany in 1958 despite fierce internal opposition to the idea on moral grounds – is now able to sell state-of-the-art weaponry to Germany.

And it is doing so without any significant internal debate about whether it is seemly for the Jewish state to provide weapons to Germany, a nation that only three generations ago was responsible for the murder of more than one-third of the Jewish people.

Yes, Israel has long been at peace with the idea of buying weapons from Germany, including nuclear-capable submarines, considered a key component to ensuring the country’s physical survival.

But selling cutting-edge systems to Germany with this price tag? It is one thing to buy arms from Berlin for self-defense; it is another thing to sell it weapons.

True, Israel has sold weapons to Germany in the past. But nothing this cutting-edge nor carrying this price tag. This sale – which took a major leap forward on Wednesday when the Bundestag approved an advanced payment of €560 million for the deal – is unprecedented.

Talk about a reversal of fortunes.

And the reversal of fortunes reflected in this sale does not only have to do with Israel-Germany ties. It is much broader than that.

This reversal of fortune also reflects the distance that Israel has traveled as a country. Not that long ago, the main thing it had to offer the world was Jaffa oranges, a revolutionary depilating device called Epilady, and the Uzi submachine gun. Today, it provides missiles that shoot down other missiles in the stratosphere, software that drives industries, and is on the cusp of exporting natural gas to European countries looking to reduce their dependence on Russian oil.

THE DEFENSE MINISTRY reported this week that Israel’s defense exports soared to a record $12.5b. in 2022, up an astounding 400% from the scope of the sales at the turn of the century and up some 120% over the last 15 years.

The Arrow sale is the third of several mega-sales to European countries in two months, following the announcement of the sale of the David Sling missile defense system to Finland and the PULS artillery rocket launcher to the Netherlands.

According to ministry statistics, 29% of the 2022 weapons sales went to Europe, and fully 24% of the sales went to Abraham Accords countries – the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco (in 2021 the Abraham Accords countries accounted for only 7% of Israel’s arms sales).

WHY IS ISRAEL’S SALE OF THE ARROW-3 CRUCIAL?

These sales are important to Israel for two main reasons. First, they strengthen bilateral ties. If Israel is providing a country with weapons that keep it safe, that country – for instance, Azerbaijan or India, which have emerged as key markets for Israeli arms – will relate to Israel in a fundamentally different way than if there were no arms sales in the relationship. This is only natural. Countries, like people, relate to and treat those they need differently than those they do not.

The second reason these sales are so critical for Israel is that they make it possible for the country to conduct the research and development to produce the weapons it needs for its own survival. The primary purpose of Israel’s weapons industry is to create weapons needed for the Israeli army. Some of these arms must be tailor-made for Israel’s unique circumstances; others, Israel simply cannot get elsewhere.

Amos Yaron, a former director-general of the ministry, explained at a conference last year that Israel needs to export 70% of the weapons and systems it manufactures to pay for the research, development and production of the weapons it needs for its own survival.

THE NET RESULT is that Israel’s ability to give countries around the world things they need – from weapons systems to irrigation expertise to medical innovations to lifesaving intel – necessarily increases its utility to the world.

And this utility to the world explains the explosion in Israel’s diplomatic ties over the last 15 years. From India to the UAE, from Greece to Rwanda, Israel’s diplomatic situation has improved, corresponding to an appreciation of the tangibles Israel brings to the table.

For instance, does anyone think the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco would have signed agreements with Israel if the Jewish state could not provide what they need?

Mark Regev, a former ambassador to Britain and currently the chairman of the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy at Reichman University, said it is undoubtable that arms sales, business deals, technological cooperation and intelligence sharing have all had a significant impact on improving Israel’s standing around the world.

“In the past when Israel spoke to Europe,” Regev said, “it spoke about common values and democracy – ‘we are part of you, you are part of us.’” But, he added, that values-based talk only had a limited appeal when the Europeans had “very real commercial interests in the Arab countries.”

The best example of this was during the Yom Kippur War. “Israel is attacked, but because of the oil embargo, the Americans could not get a single country to allow them to refuel planes on the way to Israel – Britain refused – and in the end, they landed at the Azores, which is under Portuguese sovereignty,” Regev said. “The NATO allies refused.”

Why? Because economic interests trumped common values.

Today, Regev continues, “we still have the common values, but it is nice that we also have tangible advantages as well.”

In addition to natural gas, which Israel hopes eventually to export to Europe, Regev said that Israeli hi-tech is increasingly critical to European economies, and that the war in Ukraine has hammered home to numerous European countries the need for strong military defense.

This, Regev said, has increased Israel’s value and thereby its stature in Europe. “What they get from Israel are technologies that work because we have [battle] tested them, and they are also getting it from an ally and a friend. In some cases, there is no good substitute for Israeli technology.”

Asked whether he thought that the Europeans had muted their criticism of Israel over the last decade because of a heightened awareness of Israel’s utility to them, Regev said there had been a perceptible change in tone, and this may be one – but not the only – reason for this change.

In Britain, he said, the main reason for a change in attitude toward Israel was the shifting attitudes of the Gulf countries – significant trading and military partners for Britain and much of Europe – toward Israel. But, it is worth noting, the Gulf states’ attitudes toward Israel changed because of a realization of what they could gain from ties with Israel.

For years, Regev explained, Britain and other key European states were concerned that forging closer relations with Israel would jeopardize their profitable contracts in the Arab world. But when the Gulf states themselves began talking with Israel, even before the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, they realized that there would be no blowback from other Arab countries for improved ties with Israel. Consequently, Israel’s relations with Britain and other European states improved.

EU Ambassador Dimiter Tzantchev – when asked whether an increased reliance among some European countries on Israeli weapons and possibly natural gas is softening criticism inside the EU or changing Israel’s image and status there – emphasized the strong interconnection between the EU and Israel. “We are very much connected, much more than we can imagine,” he said.

“The economic partnerships are very active,” he added, “and researchers from the EU and Israel are in close contact, not to speak of the diplomats. There is a positive change in the attitude because people understand we are interconnected.”

That interconnectedness is something that Israel wants to promote around the world, not only in Europe.

A senior Israeli official intimately involved in the relations with the US said a number of years ago that Israel’s goal was to get so linked with the US as to become almost indispensable.

He explained that this meant getting the business, hi-tech, military, and intelligence communities so interconnected that even if one day a president sat in the White House who was not positively predisposed to Israel and was desirous of reevaluating the relationship, he would be told by business and military leaders that this would be unwise and inimical to American interests because the US would have too much to lose.

An end-of-days scenario? Maybe. But that is also how most people would have responded 80 years ago, had they been told that a Jewish state would one day sell more than $4b. worth of trailblazing military hardware to Germany.