David's Sling
Called David's Sling (Hebrew קלע דוד, Kela David, dt David's slingshot ), also called Magic Wand (Hebrew שרביט קסמים ) is a missile defense system, which is currently jointly by the Israeli government defense contractor Rafael and the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon is developed for the Israel Defense Forces to defend against medium-range missiles.
History
The increasing threat to Israel by missiles, primarily through short-range Qassam rockets of Hamas from Gaza, Katyusha by short-range missiles of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon and Iranian long-range missiles have led to the development of various defense systems. While against long-range missiles already the Arrow system is in use, can David 's Sling will be used to combat missiles with a range of 70 to 250 kilometers. Furthermore, it is currently the Iron Dome system to defend against short-range missiles with a range of less than 70 kilometers in development by Rafael.
Rafael was commissioned in 2006 with the development. To take the U.S. military assistance for the project to complete, a partnership with Raytheon was received. At Raytheon, the interceptor missile was designated the Stunner.
The development costs are expected to amount to 400 million U.S. dollars. The system was originally intended to be operational as early as 2011, meanwhile, is however to be expected with the use of the system until 2014-2015. In November 2012, the system was first tested successfully. The rocket was intercepted while not initially equipped with explosives. A launch an interceptor missile would cost about a million dollars.
Technology
It is a two-stage interceptor missile used, which works on the fire-and -forget principle and is equipped with both radar and with an optoelectronic sensor.