Israel prepares for 1,500 rockets a day in next war with multi-tiered missile defense systems

Israel’s army estimates that thousands of rockets could slam into the Jewish state in any future war, military sources said Friday ahead of a nationwide civil defence drill.

The drill is based on projections of the army’s Home Front Command, which estimates 1,500 rockets crashing into the country each day, military sources said in a briefing to Israeli reporters, local media reported.

Hamas is said to have been left seriously weakened after a 2014 Gaza war against Israel, but it still holds thousands of rockets, according to a military official.

Hezbollah has at least 100,000 and probably more, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Only around one in 100 rockets is likely to hit a building, military sources say, with the rest falling on open ground or being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system.

They say 95 percent of rockets fired will likely carry a light payload and have a range of less than 40 kilometers (25 miles), but Hezbollah can hit densely-populated central Israel with dozens of rockets each day.

During the 2014 war in and around Gaza, Hamas and other terror organizations fired 4,594 rockets at Israel. Of those, the system chose to intercept 799 projectiles –if is designed to focus only on missiles deemed threatening to populated areas — hitting 735 and missing 64, according to a Channel 2 report.

Israel, while pushing Iron Dome’s larger cousin, David’s Sling, to operational status, has also increased the performance envelope of the existing system.

Israel successfully upgraded its Iron Dome missile-defense system in 2015.

David’s Sling was formerly known as Magic Wand. It is a medium to long range Israel Defense Forces military system being jointly developed by the Israeli defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the American defense contractor Raytheon, designed to intercept tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles, fired at ranges from 40 km (24.85 miles) to 300 km (186.41 miles). David’s Sling is meant to replace the MIM-23 Hawk and MIM-104 Patriot in the Israeli arsenal. It is designed to intercept the newest generation of tactical ballistic missiles, such as Iskander, using an on-board dual CCD/IR seekers to distinguish between decoys and the actual warhead of the missile, in addition to tracking by Elta EL/M-2084 Active electronically scanned array multi-mode radar. The multi-stage interceptor consists of a solid-fuel, rocket motor booster, followed by an asymmetrical kill vehicle with advanced steering for super-maneuverability during the kill-stage. A three-pulse motor provides additional acceleration and maneuverability during the terminal phase. David’s Sling was planned to be deployed in 2015, but budget shortfalls for infrastructure for deployable missile batteries will delay its operational date.

David’s Sling is meant to bolster the second tier of Israel’s theater missile defense system. The two-stage radar and electro-optic guided system has a 70–300 kilometer range, three times that of Iron Dome. The system can be deployed against aircraft and missiles, with plans to convert the system to intercept cruise missiles in the future.

David’s Sling will form one level of Israel’s future multi-tiered missile defense system that Israel is developing, which will also include Arrow 2, Arrow 3, Iron Dome and Iron Beam from as early as 2018.

David’s Sling Weapons System Stunner Missile launch during final milestone test

SOURCES- Wikipedia, spacewar