The Ministry of Defense today announced that it had recently completed a successful special trial in cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency testing the connectivity capabilities of missile defense systems stationed in Israel and the systems used by the US. The trial, the first such test in eight years, examined the anti-missile systems developed in Israel with US aid, such as the Arrow 3 missile and the David's Sling system.
The trial tested the ability to integrate the command and control systems for the Israeli defense missiles with the US anti-missile defense systems, such as the Patriot batteries, the Aegis, and THAAD, as part of more intense preparation by the two countries for a scenario of massive missile and rocket fire against Israel from several theaters simultaneously in case of a general war.
The trial also included US warning systems stationed in Israel, such as X-ray lasers stationed in the Negev and other systems stationed in Europe. The trial took place simultaneously at the development centers of the defense companies involved in Israel's anti-missile defense plan and development centers in the US. The trial itself was led by Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) and Elisra Group, its subsidiary, which are responsible for the development of the Arrow missile and David's Sling command and control systems. These systems, called Golden Citron and Golden Shaked, will facilitate management of the interception of missiles fired at Israel.
David's Sling has already been delivered to the Israel air force, ahead of the declaration of its announcement of the system, designed to intercept missiles and heavy rockets, as operational. The air force is also scheduled to decide soon about when the Arrow 3 system will be declared operational. The trial also included a battery of Arrow 2 missiles used in the air force air defense system.
"A previous trial testing the connectivity of the Israeli and US systems was conducted eight years ago. It did not include the new defense systems subsequently developed, such as Arrow 3 and David's Sling, and it was therefore necessary to conduct this trial now," Col. S., a senior figure in Homa Administration (Israel Missile Organization) told "Globes." He said that the Ministry of Defense and the US Missile Defense Agency were planning much more frequent trials of this type according to the periodic updates of the various systems. The trial took five days, and with the ensuing data processing, the Ministry of Defense expressed satisfaction with its results. "The Israeli and US defense systems demonstrated excellent capabilities, clearly highlighting the advantage of working with a uniform system at times of need," Col. S. added.
The connectivity trial of the anti-missile systems was a follow-up to a larger-scale exercise, Juniper Cobra, that took place in February 2016, with the participation of thousands of US and Israeli soldiers. That exercise simulated preparations by the two armies for a massive missile attack against the Israeli home front.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2016
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