El nuevo avión de Netanyahu incorpora un sistema avanzado antimisiles

En los últimos días, se ha instalado a bordo del nuevo avión Boeing 767 del primer ministro Benjamin Netanyahu el sistema antimisiles DIRCM (Direct Infrared Countermeasure) desarrollado por la división ISTAR de Elbit Systems. El sistema detecta el lanzamiento de misiles en una fracción de segundo y dirige un rayo láser a la cabeza del misil, obligándole a desviarse del objetivo.

Estos sistemas de Elbit se instalan a bordo de aviones y helicópteros de ala fija en 15 países de todo el mundo, y vienen incluídos de serie en los aviones comerciales israelíes de EL AL, Arkia e Israir, por una directiva de las autoridades militares israelíes tras el intento fallido de Al Qaeda en 2002 de derribar un vuelo de Arkia utilizando un MANPAD.

La semana pasada, este sistema DIRCM fue visto a bordo del avión oficial del presidente de Francia, Emmanuel Macron, cuando llegó a Israel para asistir al 75 aniversario de la liberación del campo de Auschwitz.

Israel Completes its own Missile Defense Shield

This month, Israel has completed its own Missile Defense Shield, comprising three different systems for different threats:

Iron Dome: developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, covers short range rockets and missiles (up to 70 km range)

David Sling: developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in cooperation with the IDF, covers medium range (70-300 Km range) missiles, rockets and UAVs

Arrow 3: developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing, covers long range ballistic missiles.

Koreans eyeing Iron Dome

Iron Dome, which uses guided missiles to shoot down the Katyusha-style short-range rockets favored by Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas, has scored around a 90% success rate in the month-old Gaza war, Israeli officials and U.S. observers say.

Rafael CEO Yedidia Yaari said the system’s performance had fuelled foreign interest in it, including by South Korea, which is in an armed standoff with North Korea: “South Korea is very worried not only about rockets, but other things as well ... You can certainly include them in the club of interested countries,” Yaari told Israel’s Army Radio, saying Rafael representatives had visited Seoul to promote Iron Dome.

Yaari did not give details on how advanced such a deal with South Korea may be. Rafael has not made public any foreign sales so far, saying it was giving priority to supplying Iron Domes to Israel, which has fielded nine out of a planned total of 12 interceptor units. Each Iron Dome battery costs around $50 million, and each interceptor missile between $30,000 and $50,000. Participating in Iron Dome’s production are Israeli defense contractors Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and U.S. defense contractor Raytheon.