In advance of this year’s Paris Air Show, which will open on 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.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 15, 2023.
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