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Missile defense 

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Defense System

RAFAEL provides nations with advanced missile defense systems to protect them against the enemy. These systems are highly integrated.

iron dome
One of RAFAEL’s most famous missile defense system is the Iron Dome

Defending the Skies

The sky has become one of the ways in which countries attack each other during times of war. It is one way of attacking another country where you do not need troops on the ground. In current times, attacks can happen from afar and over very long distances. For this reason, most countries have missile defense systems in place. 

The Need for Missile Defenses

The need for missile defense is to protect the general population, troops on the ground, the borders of the country, and vital infrastructure. It is also vital to protect the strategic sites of the country.

Missile Defense Control

The integrated system allows the military to keep close control over what is happening. This is especially during an attack or an attempted attack. With the integrated missile defense system, the military can control and monitor everything. It provides safety for the entire nation, the military, as well as the assets of the country.

Missile Defense Solutions

RAFAEL offers systems that assist the military, in particular, to effectively protect their nation against enemy attacks. Each nation has the ability to have the systems customized to suit its needs.

Some of these systems include the Spyder-S system, the Iron Dome, Sky Spotter, Drone Dome, as well as David’s Sling. 

Why These Systems?

  • The systems are integrated and it is, therefore, easy to customize and unify.
  • The modification includes the use of the missile defense system as a missile or air defense.
  • As a modular system, the customer can modify the system to suit any future needs that arise. It can therefore address any threat as well as future threats.
  • Those in charge can modify and adapt the missile defense to best address the threat.
  • The solutions provided by RAFAEL missile defense make it extremely cost-effective. 

From the Iron Dome to the Laser Sword

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iron dome

The Defense Ministry of Israel made a major announcement – the Israeli defense system is expanding with the development of a new major weapon:

the country is currently developing a “Laser Sword” to face threats. At the beginning of January 2020, Israel has announced that this project is now entering in the phase of battlefield testing, and that if things go as anticipated, lasers should be deployed by the end of the year. 

The air defense system of Israel is already composed of several layers, including the Iron Dome, David’ Sling and Arrow 3. This system is built in order to counter different levels of threats, from mortars to ballistic missiles. The Iron Dome, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has revealed itself as an efficient short-range anti-rocket system against the 2,600 rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel over the last two years alone. The Iron Dome is able to intercept and destroy the rockets whose trajectory has beforehand been identified. 

Yet, Israel’s anticipation of a more complex warfare to come in the context of tension with Iran and its proxies have led to two major moves in the field of defense systems. First of all, the improvement of the abilities of the Iron Dome. On January 2020, the Iron Dome was declared to be 100% accurate. Second, is the development of the Laser Sword, as announced on January 8th. Lasers, combined to the Iron Dome, mean the ability to intercept a larger array of threats, including rockets, mortars, missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, drones and cruise missiles. Therefore, the goal of Israel is to have the Laser Sword become a crucial player in the politico-military landscape and eventually, an argument in favor of peace. To reach this goal, the Laser Sword should pass field tests to ultimately complete the current capacities of the Iron Dome. 

It has to be noted that the Laser Sword is a heavy and expensive weapon. The cost of each shell is approximately 50,000 USD and the cost of each laser shot is 3.50 USD. 

The development of the Laser Sword and of the new version of the Iron Dome come together with the implementation of a highly sophisticated defensive wall on Gaza’s border. The defensive wall is at a height of 6 meters, has a sufficient depth to ensure security against infiltration tunnels and reaches below the coastline to counter navy attacks.

Rafael’s Litening targeting pod – Most loved battle equipment

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Ships

We have all witnessed in the movies how bombs are dropped off during the combat from fighter aircraft

The protagonist creates huge blasts on the ground by just clicking a button and the way it is portrayed, it all seems so easy and simple. 

But is it all so easy and simple? It is astonishing to see the sophistication of technology and equipment that goes in a single drop of the missile and how much the technological advancements have upgraded the battlegrounds. It is also important to acknowledge the real heroes, the companies and the manufacturers who are pushing the boundaries continuously and are not stopping.

Defense System
Rafael Air Defense System

One such invention, which took the air to ground combat by storm is Litening targeting pod. Litening targeting pod is one of the most famous and effective tools which play an important role during the attack and has also received loads of love from the defence forces all around the world. 

Air to ground combat requires instant action and precision. The identification of the targets in the given time frame plays the most crucial role in the destruction of the threat. Bombs cannot be dropped off anywhere and hence pilots have to make sure that the expensive missiles and weapons are killing the right targets.

Recognising the call for innovation, Israel began the research and development for the Litening targeting pod in 1992 and the project was awarded to Rafael, the Israel defence contractor. In the year 1995, this project was joined by Northrop Grumman, the American global aerospace and defence technology company and was jointly developed by both.

The main job of Litening targeting pod is to target and track the threats, which reduces the crew’s workload and helps them focus on other missions. This targeting pod is equipped with MWIR, SWIR, HD sensors and carries out multiple tasks like threat detection, identification, tracking multiple stationery as well as mobile targets and location extraction. Not only this, Litening targeting pod is supported by advanced image processing, which helps in generating extremely accurate coordinates of the target.   

The Litening targeting pod functions day and night, capable of rendering accurate information even in the harshest weather condition. The high-end sensors provide exceptional image quality of the threats, hence helping in minimizing the collateral damage. Another feature of this targeting pod is it is based on open architecture, which makes it future proof. The manufacturers have provided sufficient space inside the pod for future upgrades as per the requirements.

The pod is compatible with various fighter aircraft and is mounted externally.  Some of the hardware that goes in this pod comprises of a CCD camera and FLIR, which is stands for the forward-looking infrared sensor.

We can easily say that this was one of the most successful projects by Rafael, which managed to grab the world’s attention. Today, the Litening targeting pod have successfully logged more than 2 million flying hours worldwide. These pods are being used by 27 Air forces all around the world and the company has effectively delivered more than 800 pods to US Marine Corps, US Air National guards, USAF and other forces.

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