The Israeli army is working on a new anti-aircraft laser system called “Iron Beam” to intercept drones. But what is its use and when can it be operational?
Israel is strengthening its army. The Israeli Defense Ministry recently announced the award of a “huge contract” worth approximately $530 million to several Israeli companies to accelerate the development of the “Iron Beam” anti-aircraft laser system.
This system should allow the army to intercept drones more effectively. The latter, widely used by the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah and more generally in all conflicts, have repeatedly escaped Israeli air defense, causing civilian and military victims.
“Operational within a year”
According to the Ministry of Defense, this system, also known as the “Shield of Light,” could be installed on board a small civilian aircraft to target any flying object, such as “drones, shells, rockets, ballistic missiles.
According to the director general of the ministry, Eyal Zamir, it will be “operational within a year”.
Israel already has a multi-layered anti-aircraft and anti-missile umbrella, consisting of the Arrow and “David’s Sling” systems specifically designed to intercept ballistic missiles and the “Iron Dome” system, which intercepts shorter-range rockets and missiles.
$5.2 billion for air defense systems
At the end of September, Israel announced that it had obtained a new package of American military aid worth $8.7 billion “in support of Israel’s ongoing military effort”, in open war with Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas in Gaza.
The Ministry of Defense had specified that of this total, 5.2 billion dollars had been allocated to the improvement of existing anti-aircraft defense systems as well as to an “advanced defense system using a very powerful laser beam in the final stages of its development.
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