What is David’s Sling?

Table of Contents☰

About David’s Sling:

It is an Israeli medium-range air defense system designed to defeat short-range ballistic missiles, large-caliber rockets, and cruise missiles.
Co-developed with the United States, it occupies middle part of Israel’s sophisticated and multi-layer air-defense network, between the point-defense Iron Dome and upper-tier Arrow systems.
Features:
- It incorporates a vertical missile firing unit, a fire control radar, a battle management/operator station, and the Stunner interceptor.
- Each firing unit can hold up to 12 missiles.
- It is designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles at ranges of 40 to 300 km.
- It uses a three-pulse solid propellant motor to reach speeds of up to Mach 7.5; its first two pulses accelerate the missile through its initial trajectory while the third activates to maneuver the interceptor and increase speed prior to intercept.
- Unlike Iron Dome’s, Stunner has no warhead, defeating targets by striking them directly.
- Each Stunner missile costs an estimated $1 million to produce.

Q1) What is Iron Dome?

It is Israel’s air missile defense system that can defend against short-range rockets, intercepting them in the air above the state. It is capable of successfully handling multiple rockets at a time. Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, the system became operational in March 2011.

Source: Hamas is testing the layers of Israel’s sophisticated air-defense network. Here’s how it fends off threats.