Defense & Security News - Israel
 
Israeli air defense missile system David's Sling ready to become operational in the next few days.
The latest generation of Israeli air defense missile system David's Sling is ready to become operational with the IAF (Israeli air Force) in the next few days. The David’s Sling system was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in cooperation with Raytheon, and is designed to provide active defense from medium range missiles.
     
The latest generation of Israeli air defense missile system David's Sling is ready to become operational with the IAF (Israeli air Force) in the next few days. The David’s Sling system was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in cooperation with Raytheon, and is designed to provide active defense from medium range missiles.
Test-fire of David's Sling interceptor missile in December 2015. (Source Wikipedia)
     
The David’s Sling Weapon System project is a cooperative effort between the United States and Israel to develop a defense against large caliber rockets and short-range ballistic missiles. It is able to intercept tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets, as well as cruise missiles fired at ranges between 40 to 300 km.

Recently, Israeli air Force held a final inspection to check the preparedness of the David’s Sling for operational deployment with the Israeli Armed Forces. An official ceremony will be held on 2 April 2017 to announce that the first battalion of David’s Sling air defense system is operational.

In January 2017, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency has announced that the Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) successfully completed a test series of the David’s Sling Weapons System, a missile defense system that is a central part of Israel’s multi-layer anti-missile array.

The David's Sling will replace U.S. Patriot and MIM-23 Hawk systems in service with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to improve regional air defense capabilities and defend the Israeli homeland against barrages of enemy missiles and rockets.

The David's Sling will complete the air defense capabilities of IDF with the Iron Dome system, capable of intercepting short-range rockets, small unmanned aerial vehicles and mortar shells and the the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, which are intended to engage long-range ballistic missiles.