Pending further successful final run, Israel could bring David’s Sling online in months, boosting long-range missile defenses
The David’s Sling anti-ballistic missile system successfully passed a series of trial runs, shooting down incoming surface-to-surface and air-to-surface-missiles in a drill simulating rocket bombardments of Israeli cities, Defense Ministry officials said Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry indicated that the mid-range missile defense system, which is capable of intercepting incoming projectiles from over 300 kilometers (180 miles) away, should become operational in two months.
The series of tests was carried out under the auspices of the Defense Ministry’s research and development branch in conjunction with the US Missile Defense Agency and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The system’s MMR radar discovered and tracked an incoming missile and submitted the data to the battery’s central nerve center, whereupon the flight-path was mapped and an interception point calculated. The system then launched an anti-ballistic missile that intercepted the target, destroying the approaching rocket as planned.