Israeli, US missile interceptor completes second live trial

The David Sling missile defense system, jointly developed by Israel and the United States, has successfully passed its second live trial, the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv announced Wednesday. A stunner missile, launched at 7:30 a.m. local time from a test range in southern Israel, flew its planned trajectory and destroyed a short-range ballistic target missile. The test was conducted by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Ministry. It described the trial as a "major milestone" in the system's development, saying it provided confidence in Israel's future capabilities to defeat the threat posed by ballistic missiles. Wednesday's test run came a year after the system, which is designed to intercept short and mid-range projectiles up to 250 km, was first tested on a live target missile. A Multi-Mission Radar detects and tracks the target, transferring information to a battle management control system that directs the interceptor until collision. Jointly developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of Israel's largest defense contractors, and U.S. missile giant Raytheon, David Sling, also known as "Magic Wand," is slated to become the middle tier of Israel's multi-layered active air defenses. Once operational, it would fill the gap between Iron Dome's short-range protection against threats up to 70 km, like rockets from Gaza, and the Arrow 2, which is meant to intercept incoming Iranian ballistic missiles in the stratosphere. It is also capable of acting as a back-up to the Arrow 2, by intercepting incoming threats that manage to slip through the Arrow's defenses. A leading Israeli missile defense expert told Xinhua following David Sling's maiden interception last November that the system constituted a breakthrough in Israel's race to build an aerial shield against the growing threats of rocket and missile attacks. "It was a milestone from which it's possible to begin the countdown to operational deployment," said Uzi Rubin, the founder and first director of Israel Missile Defense Organization. He estimated that Israeli cities might be hit by more than 13, 000 missiles and rockets in a future war waged on multiple fronts. David Sling is scheduled to become operational in 2014. The high-altitude Arrow 3, being designed to hit nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, in 2015-16. Israeli citizens living in southern Israel often complain of rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled enclave of Gaza, leading the Israeli government to improve its missile defense systems in the region. Meanwhile, Palestinians inside Gaza complain about the Israeli- imposed blockade, which many rights groups say deteriorates the quality of life and prevents the population from accessing necessities.